RWBY: Haven - Enemies at the Walls
by No1OfConsequence
Summary: After students returned from Vale with the news that Grimm had attack in force, and that Beacon had fallen, Mistral began to fear what would come next. The students Storm Sapphire, Faye Elric, and Crystal Taryn each had a task ahead of them for which they need courage to face. They would need to recover from the horrors of Grimm. Rate "T" for occasional violence, cussing, and misc.
1. Chapter 1: Memorial

**Welcome everyone to Haven - Enemies at the Wall. And before you ask, and think both name changes are for the best. It's going to be a long ride, and I'm not even finished writing, which is kind of a risk, but I feel like I can do it. I'm nine chapters in, so if I keep writing and posting a chapter every week, this is definitely going to last until the new volume of RWBY comes out. But yeah, sit back, relax and watch as Mistral prepares to face their greatest enemy-fear.**

 **On a quick note, I have nothing to do with Rooster Teeth other than being an audience member as they make some great and not-so-great content (it happens to everyone). None of the characters you've seen in the show are mine, and I don't have a copyright on Haven either, so let's just call this a fan-fiction. Have fun!**

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Storm walked into the park, feeling blue. It was a cold autumn day, and it almost looked like it was going to rain. He asked for directions from a passerby to the statue, and he pointed him the right way. He stood before the statue, and stared at it.

He had known the person that this statue was dedicated to. It was a pretty good likeness of her too, though she seemed a little too muscular almost. Then again, he hadn't talked to her much in recent months, and now he never would again. He read the plaque at the base, which read: _In memoriam of Pyrrha Nikos. She was a warrior greater than any other, and she will be missed.  
_

He had trouble believing she was dead. She'd died during the Grimm invasion in Vale. They hadn't found a body, just her headdress, but from the account of one, she was dead—killed by some crazy woman. She was dead alright, and it was depressing.

While he hadn't gotten to know her very well, he still felt something at her death. He'd never lost anyone before; never known someone who died. Well, except maybe a cat, but he wasn't sure if that counted towards this. He felt an emptiness that just… he wasn't sure how to cope with.

Back at Sanctum, he, Rayne, and Patricia all had gotten along well. Pyrrha had been more of an outside to the group, he thought, being even less sure than either him or Rayne on how to integrate themselves into the group. In the end, only Storm and Rayne had actually gone to Haven, and Pyrrha went to Beacon for reasons unknown to him—Patricia didn't even go to a combat school, and instead went to pursue her art. He had always wondered about Pyrrha, but it was too late now.

As a cold wind blew in, a chill crept through him, and he zipped up his jacket. He'd thought that his sweater and hoodie were warm enough, but as it turned out, winter was coming earlier this year. But maybe he had just gotten used to the warm climate of Vale. In either case, it was cold, and while he wanted to go inside somewhere, he felt like staying a little while longer.

A series of footsteps coming from behind him made him turn his head. Walking up with her eyes pointed to her feet, and a case about four feet long in the crook of her arm, an old friend in mourning black neared. Patricia Saint: artist, former classmate, and friend. She seemed not to notice him as she neared.

"Hello, Patricia," he said. He was careful not to use the nickname "Pat" as she absolutely hated that name, along with "Patty". In fact, she hated nicknames altogether.  
Patricia's gaze shot up, and her red hair moved with it. She'd let it grow out since he'd last seen her, and he had to say, it did look nice. She almost made a smile when she saw him. "Hey, Storm," she said, her voice horse, possibly from sobbing.

"Hear to visit…" He gestured to the statue.

She nodded. "I have something for her." Patricia knelt before the statue. She put the case down and opened, revealing a sword that was a perfect replica of Pyrrha's sword. There weren't any variations that he could spot. He found it slightly odd, because Patricia had never liked how the shades of red and yellow clashed to her eyes. She placed the sword at the statue's feet with outmost care.

When Patricia continued to stay knelt before the statue, Storm wasn't sure what to do. He put his hand on her shoulder carefully, so as to show his support. She didn't mind it, and was even comforted by it. After a while, she stood up, and Storm took his hand away.

"So," Patricia said, turning to him, her face with a trace of a tear on it, "want to get coffee?"

"Well, you know I don't drink coffee," Storm said quickly—maybe a little too quickly. "But I can drink hot chocolate."

"Okay, let's go." Patricia left the sword behind as they walked through the park back to the city.

He was glad to be back in his hometown rather than Vale. Vale was hot, humid, and even in autumn it was a terrible place to be. Mistral he was used to. Mistral was nicely cool, though near brutally hot in summer, and very cold at the start of winter. Still, it was nice to be back.

The two of them went to a nearby coffee shop, and after they got their drinks, sat down at a table near the window. After each of them took the lid off their drink to let them cool a little, Patricia said intently, "So, what have you been up to?"

"Well, did you see me in the tournament?" he said painfully.

"Yeah."

"Then you know how bad it was."

Patricia laughed. "No, you were close. When that blue haired girl, um, what's her name…?"

"Azura."

Patricia snapped her fingers. "Azura. When Azura started shooting up that team, I thought she was unstoppable."

"Yeah, but we still lost." Sneak attacks couldn't get her, but even she couldn't fight that really big guy, not matter how big a target he was.

"Yeah, I guess you did. But still, you're the leader of your own team. You didn't write me that."

"That's because I didn't write you at all."

Patricia nodded in an amused fashion. "Tell me about them—your team."

"Well, going in order, there's Azura. She's straightforward, introverted, and the best shot I've ever seen—straight and trick shots. Then there's Faye…" He trailed off as he thought about her.

"Remnant to Storm, come in, Storm," Patricia said, snapping her fingers.

"Anyway, yeah. Faye is the white haired one."

"I guessed that, since I'm pretty sure that's not a guy name. Her hair looked weird though. Is she a Faunus?"

He nodded. "She's a gyrfalcon Faunus, and she has feathers in her hair. I'm still not sure what that is." Patricia chuckled. Despite that, he continued. "Faye is a bit of a mystery to me. Every time I start to think I understand her, I see a glimpse of another side of her."

"Yeah, she's an odd one."

"We're dating." He wasn't sure why he said that, but he just blurted it out.

Patricia looked surprised. "Three years at Sanctum and you never flirted with anyone. Now you're dating?"

"Well, yeah."

"If you grow anymore, I'm outa here."

"Don't worry; I'm fine," he said, trying to avert any ideas she had.

She nodded. "Well, the hormones finally got to you, Storm."

"I guess so." He felt odd finally having someone he might call a girlfriend.

"Well, how did the first date go?" Patricia said. "Tell me all about it."

"I can't."

"Why?"

He put the lid back on his cup, as he judged it had cooled off enough, and said, "Because we haven't gone on it yet."

Patricia's eyes grew wide as he took a drink of hot chocolate. It was warm, but not too hot. "You haven't gone yet?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, we haven't decided on what to do yet."

"Then how are you dating?"

"We decided to start dating, so… Neither of us really know what we're doing."

"You certainly don't," she mumbled. He gave her a questioning look. "In eighteen years, I've dated three different guys, and you need some advice."

"And I guess you have experience with this," Storm replied hostilely.

"I'm not saying that. I'm saying you need advice from someone who actually has some experience with what women like."

"What, like Rusti?"

She cocked her head. "Who's Rusti?"

Realizing his mistake, he moved to correct that. "Rusti is the R in SAFR. He's a ladies' man, and a pain for me to deal with. He might have some advice." While he didn't feel like taking advice from Rusti, it was only for the sake of conversation.

"Well, maybe. How exactly is he a ladies' man?"

"In the time I've known him he's had three girlfriends, and didn't keep any of them for long."

"Maybe you should go for original work."

"Good." He then thought of a joke. "Then maybe she won't kill me." Patricia didn't laugh one bit. Obviously the wrong crowd.

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 **Yes Patricia is based of Saint Patrick, thank you for noticing.**


	2. Chapter 2: The Lion and the Lord

**It's fun to be posting stuff again. Making these notes are a highlight for me, really. That and writing the story.**

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Crystal marched into Headmaster Forester's office, flanked by policemen. Her mission was clear to her, as it was to the policemen. Arrest Lionel Forester if possible, or kill him if necessary.

He had betrayed Crystal and her team, his fellow headmasters, and possibly the whole world. He had hidden his knowledge of Cinder from the rest of the world, only sending Crystal's team—team CCRE—to try and stop her. What's more, he was suspected of being a member of a secret society whose primary goal was to take over the world. It was only fitting that he was arrested.

As Crystal entered his office, Forester stood up. He eyed her very suspiciously. She met his gaze with as much steel as she could muster.

As she examined him, she found that he wasn't nervous. Her True Sight allowed her to project her consciousness into a moment, and see any detail she wished. She had been trained to know what the smallest twitch meant, so when she saw that he showed no sign of fear, she got a little nervous himself. "What are you doing here?" Forester asked calmly, almost uninterested.

The police lieutenant—Lieutenant Reinhardt, a red headed man how stood half a foot above Crystal—stepped forward. "By order of the Mistral Council, you are under arrest for conspiracy against the kingdom," Reinhardt said.

He clicked his tongue. "That is a very serious accusation. Are you sure that's me?"

"Yes we are, Forester," Crystal said hostilely.

"Good, because I would hate to do this otherwise." A force began to press against her mind. It was not a physical one, but mental. She turned her mind into iron, and drew her blades. Behind her, the policemen cocked their rifles, pointing them at Forester.

Then, quite suddenly, the police pointed their weapons at her! She shattered her right sword, and reformed it into a small shield. She then turned the shield to the police, and pointed her other cutlass at Forester.

"Ah, so you're left handed," Forester said with a hint of amusement. "Or are you right?" Actually, she was both, but she wasn't about to let him know that. "It doesn't matter. Just like how I broke the will of these fellows, I will break yours, and turn you into my servant."

She wasn't sure how to fight with her mind. It never came up. Telepaths were rare, and required a certain aural technique to become one. In all her training, it was never thought that she would run into one, especially someone of Forester's apparent power.

Her thoughts turned to what would happen if she should fall. How would she change? She forced her mind away from the subject, and focused on fighting Forester however she could.

There was a swipe of a sword, and the policemen fell dead. It was not her sword though. Through the door walked in her father—Lord Dustin Taryn—carrying his rapier. What was he doing here; wasn't it her mission? He looked at her as he took off his green coat and tossed it on the stone floor. "Crystal, get out. I will take care of this pathetic rogue," he said.

"A rogue? In all my years, I've never been called that," Forester said, his lion ears twitching in annoyance.

"Run!" he said again. She realized she hadn't left, and despite that fact that this was her mission, she was fine with leaving this fight to her father.

Her father was the most skilled swordsman in Mistral, and possibly the entire world. He was fast, and could almost predict his enemy's movements—though not like she could.

He was also a former user of the Crystal Blades, the weapons she now carried. If anyone could defeat a headmaster, it was him.

Once she was away, she used her semblance to see what was going on in the room. She almost wanted to turn away, but she had to know what would happen.

Using her ability to read lips, she could tell what each of them was saying. "Lionel Forester," her father said.

"Dustin Taryn," Forester replied. "I doubt you have ever fought an opponent like me."

It seemed as though Forester was invading her father's mind now, as his face showed signs of slight stress. But through the stress came a smile. "I've fought worse than you," he said, and lunged.

Forester blocked with his forearm, and underneath his sleeve was a metal band. He laughed, and transformed the band into an armor gauntlet, with claws and spikes. He swiped at her father, which he dodged. "Coward!" Forester said, and attacked again.

They went back and forth. One would attack and one would either dodge or block. While her father's sword was better and more decorated than an average sword, it was just a rapier, nothing more. He had trouble blocking Forester's attacks, so he mostly dodged.

Then Forester grabbed his rapier, and slashed at him with his claws. Not only did he dodge the attack, but he did one better. He took out his parrying dagger, and stabbed Forester in the arm. Forester's aura had evidentially run out, and now he was defenseless. He howled, and let go of the rapier, which then slashed his chest.

Bloody, Forester took a step back. He was obviously no match for her father, so Crystal had no idea what he was thinking of doing. Then Forester jumped at him, claws ready to kill him. Crystal thought her father was about to die! Then a wave of energy came from him, slamming into Forester, and disheveling the room.

Crystal had forgotten her father's semblance until now. He could send waves of energy out from him, hitting everything around him. While it was very draining, it was also very effective.

Forester slammed into the wall, making a huge dent, and fell to the ground. "Do you surrender?" her father asked.

"Never," Forester replied. "There are fates worse than death to me."

"Interesting. I've never heard of one."

Forester jumped at him again, but this time her father's parrying dagger turned into a revolver, and he shot Forester. He stepped out of the way of the corpse as it hit the ground. He then did a small ritual of praying for his soul before moving on.

Her father put away his weapons and grabbed his coat before leaving the office. He took note of Crystal. "Didn't I tell you to leave?" he said.

She felt embarrassed as she admitted, "I wanted to see you fight, father."

"Well, you got to do that, now let's leave this place and spread the news. Headmaster Lionel Forest is dead."

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 **In case you were wondering, killing Forester is actually in preparation for Volume 4 where they'll go to Haven, so that there is an evident reason why the Headmasters don't line up. It's so that this doesn't have to become an AU, and at that point what would be the point of this being a fan-fiction? Also, watch out for more preparations like this in the future.**


	3. Chapter 3: The Halls of Haven

**This is the third chapter, and we're still in the reintroduction phase, kinda. Oh, goodie. Also, sorry about not posting yesterday, but it completely slipped my mind.**

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Faye sat down on the cold stone floor of the dorm room. Except for the work desk and the dressers—which were currently covered in stuff—the floor was the only place that was flat enough for this. She put a coin down, leaving her hand on it for several seconds. She then took her hand away, keeping it raised above the coin. When the coin did not move for several minutes, she slammed her fist onto her bed and hissed, "Darn it!"

No one was around, so she let the outburst out. While she would have never said anything like that when her team was around, letting her feelings out sometimes felt good. Sometimes it was a chore to keep her emotions in, but most of the time it was well worth it.

She had not used Polarity since the battle, and since then she had heard of the death of Pyrrha Nikos—the one whose semblance she was mimicking. She did not yet know if she could mimic the semblances of the dead, so far only the living. This was the first time she had tried, and it seemed that she had failed.

Then again, it might be her fear. She had heard that fear could sometimes interfere with some people's semblance. She wondered if it was her fear of failing or Nikos being dead that stopped her. One could be helped, the other could not. She wondered which it was.

There was a knock on the door, and she picked up the coin quickly. She answered, "Yes, who is it?"

The door opened—which always drove her crazy when someone did that—and on the other side was Lorna. Lorna with her ginger hair and fox ears had been her friend since they were students together at Asylum.

"Hey, Feather—excuse me, Faye," Lorna said. The sound of her first name was annoying to her. Her parents had been very uncreative with that one, as feathers were her way of showing her Faunus heritage, just as Lorna's was fox ears. She much preferred her middle name, and Lorna knew it. That is what made Lorna laugh nervously.

"Hello, Lorna," Faye replied, ignoring the slight. "What is it?"

"Remember team SFRN?" She did. Team SFRN was from Vale, and when Beacon fell, SFRN transferred to Haven. If she remembered correctly, Storm's cousin Redell was on that team.

Faye nodded saying, "Yes."

"Well, I decided to show the team leader around the city. Do you want to come?"

While Faye wanted to stay and practice, she also wanted to be around Lorna. Since Faye had come to Haven, Lorna's team—team AWLH—had been very busy, and she had not gotten many chances to meet with her friend, so any opportunity to be around her would be welcome. "Yes, I would."

"Great then. Let's go." Faye followed Lorna as she left her team's room, and walked to team SFRN's.

She had gotten used to the drywall of Beacon, so the stone corridors of Haven made her return to the feelings she had once had when she first arrived. She felt trapped almost, underground as they were. Haven's rooms were carved out of a mountain, and had been used as a military base during the Great War. After the war, it was converted into the Huntsmen academy that it was now, but it still had an almost oppressive feel to the place.

Headmaster Forester declared that classes would start up until three days from now. It was so that the students could get some rest after returning from the tournament. Faye certainly thought she could use the rest, as did many others.

As they went along, they passed team SSSN's room. The door was open, and while Faye could see into it, she felt it was still an invasion of privacy, and kept her eyes straight. SSSN was one of the more popular teams on campus, and off it, and entirely comprised of male students. She could almost smell the testosterone coming out of the room—or at least, she hoped it was testosterone.

Faye so hoped that Scarlet did not notice her. He had tried talking to her once before, and it was only her fear of reprisal that kept her from slapping him for what he called her. Unfortunately, he may have sensed that he was being thought of, and his voice crept out from the room. "Hello, girls. How's it going?"

There was no ignoring him, and Lorna probably did not know his reputation, so she would not help her get out of this. She decided to face this. Faye turned around and saw Scarlet David, face-to-face. "We're fine," Lorna said. "We were just on our way to meet one of the new teams—SFRN."

"Ah, team SFRN," Scarlet said. "Well, give them my best…" Then it seemed that Scarlet finally noticed Faye, despite the fact that even slouched she was slightly taller than Lorna standing straight, which should have made her instantly noticeable. Sometimes, it paid to be figuratively invisible. "Oh, sorry, love."

She sighed painfully. "Excuse me, but why did you call me 'love'?" Faye asked.

"Sorry, again," he said nervously. "And I'm sorry for what I called you before."

"Before?" Lorna asked. "You two have met?"

"Yes, and I do not want to talk about it," Faye said, irritated.

"Wait, what'd he called you?" Lorna asked.

"Please stop," Faye said.

"No, I want to know what he called you." Lorna looked intently at Scarlet.

He gave in and told her. "I called her a bird." Lorna eyes grew wide. "It's slang from where I come from."

"And where is that from exactly—the moon?" Lorna said. "And slang for wha… I don't want to know." She turned to Faye. "Faye, let's go. Scarlet, don't ever talk to us again." Lorna grasped Faye by the hand, and led her away from Scarlet.

Once they were some rooms away, Faye smiled a little. "You know, in hindsight, that is a little funny," Faye said.

"Well…" Lorna laughed a little. "I guess it is."

They eventually got to team SFRN's room, and when they did Lorna knocked on the door. A voice came from inside. "Who is it?"

"Welcoming comity," Lorna answered back.

Faye turned to Lorna. "We are a comity?"

"It's an expression," Lorna said. "Though if we're a comity, we're a pretty small one." Lorna turned back to the door. "We want to show you around. Can we come in?"

"Sure," said the voice. Lorna opened the door, and inside was a bit of a mess. It seemed as though they were in the middle of unpacking, and no one wanted to finish the job. The only person around was a short woman with blonde hair and brown eyes in a Haven uniform sitting on the edge of a bed trying to sort things. "Sorry about the mess. I don't know what to do with my team's stuff, and two of them are out sparring while the other is on a manhunt."

"A manhunt?" Lorna said.

"Yeah, Fuchsia is out looking some guy she was dating during the festival."

"Wait, Fuchsia?" Faye said.

"Yeah, that's her name. What about it?"

"I believe I met her during the battle of Vale. Which means that the one she is after is my teammate, Rusti."

"Oh!" she said, stretching out the word. "Then I'm sorry, but you're not going to be at full strength for a while. She is going to talk his ear off when she finds him."

"Really?"

"Yeah. While she was in the hospital after the battle, he dumped her. And not even in person—with a card he left! The nerve of that guy." She shook her head. "Anyway, she was really upset when she started looking for him, and is probably going to find him and demand an explanation." Faye nodded in understanding. This could be bad.

"Anyway, what's your name?" Lorna asked.

"Oh, sorry, I guess I skipped that. I'm Saffron Florian."

"Lorna Sionn."

"Faye Elric."

"Well, now that that's settled, let's see what kind of tour you have planned."

As they were about to leave, two people walked by. One was the lime green-haired Crystal, in her finely made dark green tunic and pants, with the Crystal Blades on her back. Next to her was a tall man in finer clothes of similar color, with graying brown hair, and an emerald encrusted rapier at his belt. The man had a certain noble and almost terrifying air to him. She wondered who he was, and why Crystal was with him.

Then she caught sight of his symbol on his belt. It was the very same symbol that Crystal had stitched on her tunic's shoulders. She realized who he was—who he had to be. He was Lord Dustin Taryn, descendant of kings, member of the Mistral Council, and father of Crystal. She wondered what Lord Taryn was doing here.

But the concerns of lords were probably nothing that she had to worry about. She turned back to her friends, and followed them.

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 **No, I'm not going through why Faye's last name is "Elric" again. You seriously don't want to know.**


	4. Chapter 4: Uncomfortable Conversations

Crystal and her father walked along the hall in near silence, their breathing and their footsteps being the only sounds they made. It was tough keeping pace with her father sometime, but he made sure to walk slowly enough for her to keep up. When she caught sight of a door with a certain team name on it, she stopped. Then her father stopped as well and turned back to her. "What is it?" he asked.

"I have business with those inside, father," she replied.

"Is it anything dangerous?"

"Only to them." He nodded in understanding. There were some things that she had to do herself.

She used her semblance to see what was going on inside and discovered that both of them were inside. That was good, as she was there for both of them. She opened the door, knowing that giving them any time—even a small amount—to prepare was too much.

As she opened the door, one of them objected to the intrusion, but quieted himself. "Hey who do you think…"

She looked at both of them one at a time and said, "I am only going to give you one chance; one chance for survival. If you think that you can do whatever you want, then kill that idea. Throw it away because it will only bring you death—by either my hand or someone else's."

They were quit, though one of them was trying to trick her. She kept checking on her with her True Sight to make sure she was where she thought she was.  
She continued. "If you think that you can kill me, then let me put that idea down as well." She then turned to look not where her eyes told her she was, but where her semblance told her where she was. "And you can't sneak up on me either, Emerald."

Emerald let go the illusion, and Crystal intensified her gaze. Mercury was just stared amazed at Crystal. "The only thing you two can do while you pretend that you're innocent, and were just as much victims of Cinder as everyone else, is attend classes and don't catch my eye. If you so much as scratch someone in a sparring match, I will kill you without hesitation."

Emerald and Mercury had been an annoyance to her, hiding in plain sight for so long, and pleading innocent of the crimes of Cinder. It sickened her to think the two of them were tolerated by those who knew their guilt. This was her way of making sure they realized how lucky they were that their lie was believed by anyone.

The two of the understood, but just to make her point clear, she drew her right Crystal Blade and brought it to Mercury's neck. It was there, barely touching his skin, before he could react. She grinned, and put away the blade.

"Goodbye, and don't make me kill you." She went back outside to find her father still waiting for her, and the two continued their silent walk through Haven.

Eventually, her father turned to her and said, "Do you want to get in a quick sparring match, Crystal?"

She was surprised. After killing Forester, she would have thought he would be exhausted. "Aren't you at all tired, father?" she asked.

"Of course, but that's the only way this fight can be remotely fair."

That was a challenge. "Alright, but I think the sparring arena is being used."

"No matter. We shall do it similar to how I would do it in my days here; outside."

He led her to one of the large balconies once used as a landing pad, and dropped his coat. "So, first to have their aura run out?" Crystal said.

"I was thinking more until first blood, but I suppose that works." He drew his rapier, and took his stance.

She shook her head. "If first blood is what you want, then so be it."

"Good. Now it's even more like my academy days." She didn't question that or the odd smile he had.

She drew the Crystal Blades, and shattered them, reforming them into a rapier and parrying knife of her own. She then took a stance that almost mirrored his, favoring her right side towards him, so that the dagger could deflect his blade if it got past. "I'll let you have the first strike," he said.

She advanced and lunged. He parried, and fell back. Then he went on the offensive, advancing and attacking quickly, making it difficult for her to counter. More than once, he landed a hit, reducing her aura. It seemed like she didn't even get one hit in.

She advanced aggressively, locked his sword with her dagger, and lunged at his chest. He quickly drew his dagger, and tied to knock her rapier away. He had only succeeded minorly; making her blade hit his arm instead of his chest. It was then that she was surprised to see blood come from his arm.

"Good job," he said. They disengaged from each other. "I almost didn't expect that."

"You didn't have any aura," Crystal said, a little dazed.

He nodded. "I supposed that made it a fair fight, and indeed it did." He put his blades away, prompting Crystal to shatter and reform hers in order to put them in their sheaths. "Good work. Now all I need is a bandage." Before she could open her mouth to say something, he said, "I'll find a nurse. But after that, I'm leaving to give my report to the council."

"Wait," she said as he was about to leave. "Have you told the council about _them_?" " _Them_ " referred to the Order of the Broken Moon, a secret society bent on ruling the world. She had only recently found out about them from Storm, and she didn't know where he had learned it. She had told her father about them so as to give cause arrest Forester, as she suspected he was a member of their organization, which turned out to be true. She wondered if he had told the Mistral Council about them, as Storm told her to keep it a secret.

"Not yet, no." Then they had been doing these things, and using the council's name to justify them, despite the fact that they were acting on their own—definitely not good. "While I have told them that I suspected Forester of conspiracy, I didn't tell them what conspiracy it was." That was slightly better.

"Father, I think it would be best if you do not reveal them to the council."

"Why?" he said with a questioning gaze. "If we reveal them, they could be dealt with much easier."

"You don't know them, father. If they know that we know about them, they might take violent action. It would be like waking a sleeping giant! They have agents with incredible powers—reading minds, moving the earth with their mind, spellcasting, even something I don't understand. And that's only the ones I know about. If there are those who are even more powerful, then it would be best not to provoke them."

He nodded. "Well, if that's how you feel about it, then I'll take your suggestion under consideration." His voice took a somewhat less serious tone. "In the meantime, I want you to start attending council meetings. Even if you don't have any say yet, the noble houses have almost always elected Taryns, and it would be good if you would start to learn about to the intricacies of the Mistral Council."

While she didn't really want to, she didn't dare to let down her father. "As you wish, father."

"Good. We meet monthly, though perhaps more now, considering what I'm going to suggest."

She eyed him curiously. "What exactly are you going to suggest."

"Rearmament." Rearmament would mean so many things. The Mistral Defense Force would be elevated from their now ceremonial role, to their position before the Great War—the primary defense against the Grimm. Not only that: getting volunteers and equipment would strain Mistral's infrastructure, and perhaps even bring negative feelings into the kingdom—which could be even more damaging. "I know it's a dangerous plan, but it's our best and most consistent defense against the Grimm."

All she could do was stare at him.

After several minutes of silence, he broke the tension with a completely new topic. "So, have you found a boy yet?"

She stepped back. Out of all the things he'd said, that was what gave her the most surprise. "What?"

"I'm not getting any younger, and someday you're going to have to inherit the estate. Before then, I'd be nice to know that you'd have an heir as well. Besides, I want to know if my daughter's got a boyfriend yet."

"Um, no. There are not many noblemen attending the school, so I…"

"I've never said I wanted to have a noble son-in-law. It's not five hundred years ago. Your mother certainly wasn't a noble. You can marry anyone you like." He paused and said very seriously, "Unless it's a girl, in which case, you're disavowed."

He had never made it clear to her that it didn't matter the class of the person. That changed a lot. But she still didn't have anyone. "Father, it's just that there aren't many people going to this school that I find are very… compatible."

"Take your time. With my luck, I'll die at least fifty years from now, so you have nothing to worry about." He took out his pocket watch—he really had one?—and looked at the time. "Excuse me; I've got to report to the council." He turned to leave and then turned back to say, "Don't worry, it's not a public meeting; you wouldn't be allowed to watch anyway."

"Farewell then, father," she said as she curtsied.

"Farewell, Crystal." And he left with a quick walk.

As much as it pained her to admit it, she did have to find someone. Not just for purposes of tradition, but also because she wanted someone to be there for her. If only it was more simple.

* * *

 **Yes, Emerald and Mercury. And yes, Crystal's semblance can easily overcome Emerald's. That should tell you who would win in a fight. See you next time.**


	5. Chapter 5: Out For Coffee

Faye sipped her hot chocolate carefully, not wanting to burn her mouth. Lorna had decided to take Saffron to a coffee shop after their tour, and urged Faye to join them. So now, here they were, talking about whatever crossed either Lorna or Saffron's minds.

It made her feel odd to be the only one with hot chocolate at the table by the window. Saffron had ordered a complicated beverage of some sort, though she was somewhat sure that it was at least coffee. Lorna had gotten a latte with some gingerbread sprinkled in—she loved gingerbread. Out of all them, Faye did have the most boring drink, but she was content with boring.

Saffron and Lorna had just finished talking about how odd their individual experiences at both Signal and Asylum were compared to what people considered the norm, when Saffron turned to Faye. "Faye, why do you do that?" Saffron asked.

She shifted in her seat. "What exactly?"

"Why do you keep your hood up all the time?"

It was true that she wore a hoodie a lot of the time when she went out, and that she kept the hood up for most of that time. She wondered why Saffron cared though. But she had to offer an explanation, so she said, "I keep my hood up to hide my feathers. I hope you understand."

"I do," Saffron said. "But you shouldn't hide who you are."

"Saffron, don't bother," Lorna said. "I had this talk with her when she was fourteen; she didn't budge."

"Well, I just think you shouldn't hide who you are," Saffron said. "I don't wear high heels to make me look taller, and you certainly don't cover your fox ears."

"Well, that's mostly because I can't hear that well with my ears smushed against my hair, and ear holes are even weirder." Her left ear twitched slightly. "It gets really inconvenient when it rains, and I have to carry an umbrella all the time."

"Still, you shouldn't hide your heritage all the time, Faye," Saffron told her.

"I suppose," Faye said. "But I still prefer to wear the hood."

"Well since I can't change your mind, and pulling your hood would be too overbearing, I guess I can't do anything about it." Saffron leaned back in her chair and started looking around the coffee shop. "Oh, look at that, two people are coming over here," Saffron said, sitting up. "I wondered what they want."

Faye followed Saffron's gaze, and saw Storm being led to their table by a redheaded girl in black, both carrying drinks. The girl was about his age, and very pretty. There also seemed to be a discoloration on the ends of her sleeves that looked like paint. Who was she?

Storm was the first to speak. "Hello, Faye. Hello, Lorna." He looked at Saffron. "Hello, whoever you are." Saffron laughed.

"This is Saffron," Lorna said, gesturing in her direction. "Saffron, this is Storm." She glanced at the redhead. "Now do you mind introducing whoever this is?"

"This is Patricia, an old friend."

"Well hello, Patricia. I'm Lorna," Lorna said, shaking hands with Patricia. "Can I call you Pat?"

"Um, no, I'd really appreciate it if you didn't."

After a couple seconds, Faye put her hand forward. "My name is Faye."

"Well, Faye, I'm glad to finally meet you. Storm has told me a lot about you."

"He has not told me anything about you." She glanced at Storm, and noticing her gaze, he shrugged.

"Well, I guess that's Storm; he tends to talk in the present and never in past," Patricia said.

"Do you want to join us?" Saffron asked, half an offer, half a request to move on.

"Nah, I don't like to sit with people I don't really know in coffee shop." That was specific, though she had the same problem. "Well, goodbye." Faye, Lorna, and Saffron gave their various goodbyes, and Patricia and Storm walked off.

Once they were gone, Saffron turned to Faye. "Well, they seemed like a nice couple." Faye glared at Saffron, and she seemed to jump back. "What are you angry about?"

"He is my boyfriend!" The words seemed odd coming out of her mouth, but they were true.

Saffron shook her head regretfully. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have opened my mouth. I just tend to ship some people when I see them. It's a bad habit."

Faye was still a little sore about Saffron's comment, mostly because she was afraid it might have at one point been true. She really did not know much about his past. Then again, as far as she knew, Storm did not know much of Faye's past. Both of them would have to correct that later on.

"Oh my gosh, look," Lorna said softly, pointing to the TV on the nearby wall. A news report was on concerning Haven Academy. What was Haven doing in the news?

The anchorman said this: "Lionel Forester, headmaster of local Haven Academy, was killed in an attempted arrest earlier today. According to police, and the Mistral Council, he was suspected of conspiracy, but they are unsure if those accusations are in fact true. When they went to arrest him, he resisted, killing several policemen. He was only brought down when Lord Dustin Taryn himself fought and killed him.

"Due to the possible corruptness of Forester, the council is now having the entire staff investigated. It is currently unknown how this will affect classes."

As the news went on to another topic, the girls turned to each other. "Can you believe that?" Lorna said. "Forester's dead."

"And he was killed by Crystal's father," Faye added. That certainly explained his presence at Haven earlier that day.

"Wait, I forget. Who is Crystal?" Saffron asked.

"She was in the tournament," Faye replied. "She is the leader of team CCRE, and… something of a friend of mine, I think."

"Green haired gal," Lorna said.

"Oh, now I remember her," Saffron said. "It's obviously dyed, you know. Her eyebrows are brown."

"Can we stay on topic?" Faye said. She rarely got like this, but she had been pushed to it.

"I don't know; we pretty effectively covered that."

Lorna looked at Saffron tiredly. "No, we didn't."

"Well then, let's talk about it." After Lorna did not say anything for several seconds, and both of the other girls were quietly waiting for her to talk, Saffron said, "Nothing? Well, that's too bad."

"You know, you've got a real attitude problem," Lorna said slightly angrily.

"I've had to develop this to work with Redell," Saffron replied. If Faye was remembering correctly, Storm had a cousin whose name was Redell—one of the few things she knew about his background. She would have to ask a little later if they could be the same. "When we were put together, it didn't take me long to realize that he wouldn't be easy to manage. He wouldn't do anything I told him to, even asked him to do. Eventually he let up, but I had to get _some_ attitude to get him to do anything. It's just stuck with me since."

After waiting a few seconds, Faye asked, "Is that Redell _Sapphire_?"

Saffron looked at her questioningly. "How'd you know?"

"He happens to be Storm's cousin."

Saffron laughed. "Wow. Does he give as much trouble to your team leader?"

"He _is_ the team leader."

Saffron laughed even more. Between gasps of breath she said, "Wow, if he's anything like Redell, I feel sorry for you."


	6. Chapter 6: Assembly

**Another chapter in the same day? Well, I decided that I would now post two chapter on Mondays from now on, and post another chapter on Thursdays. Also, I'm in the planning stage of a certain Nightmarish story right now, so look forward to that whenever I post it, possibly weeks from now.**

* * *

Storm sat in the cafeteria next to his teammates, all in uniform. Right now it was being used for that morning's assembly, and probably almost every student was there. While they didn't usually have assemblies, today was an exception. While he didn't know for sure what, he suspected almost everyone had the same theory—the Headmaster's death.  
A man in a long green coat stepped onto an elevated platform. If he remembered this correctly, the man was Lord Taryn, a politician. He was also Crystal's father. When he spoke, he spoke with a voice harder than on TV. He also wasn't using a microphone or anything. "As you may have heard, your Headmaster, Forester, is dead. And this is a time for truth, so I killed him."

There were murmurs in the crowd, but Lord Taryn allowed for that. He personally didn't participate in anything like that. However, Rusti said to those next to him, "Yeah, I heard that on the news."

"So did I," Faye said. Everyone had heard it on the news—though possibly not Azura, as she probably didn't watch TV.

When he spoke again, it was louder, and echoed off the walls. "But he deserved it, as I seem to have heard from his students," he said jokingly. Storm smiled a little, but didn't laugh. "Unfortunately, all members of his staff are currently under investigation. Until they can be found innocent or replaced, all classes are suspended." There were gasps and the occasional shout of joy. "We're going to need volunteers from you, the students, to run some of the campus services.

"Now, any volunteers to run the arena?" After a few seconds, a hand shot up. Lord Taryn gestured for the hand's owner to come forward, and Taline Ironskin—leader of team TRCS—stood up and went to the platform. He knew she was Taline has her blue-green hair contrasted her black uniform sharply. So, Taline was going to be in charge of fighting—well at least she had a lot of experience with that.

Several other positions went by, and there weren't many volunteers. He attributed their reluctance to the fact that nobody wanted to have any big responsibility like that. Though there were a lot of volunteers for gym supervisors—and from the hands and arms that were raised, it seemed like there were a lot of male volunteers for the girl's side of the gym and vice versa. Eventually, all the positions were taken.

"Now," Lord Taryn said, "I must be off, but remember these words, students. A man can only fight for so long. As skilled he is with a sword, or a bow, or a spear, he can only fight until either age or death stops him. That is why it is important for you, the next generation of warriors, to learn how to fight. For while a man can only fight for so long, a child can fight forever.

"Of course, most of you aren't children anymore." He paused while quite a few in the crowd laughed. "On a side note, the dance later this Saturday will go on, it's just that you're going to have to supervise yourselves. Don't start anything weird, or else I'll never hear the end of it." Storm snickered a little.

Finally Lord Taryn said, "I'll be off. Good luck and the teachers should be back by the New Year. Happy training." He stepped off the platform, and several students clapped and cheered for him.

Lord Taryn was very popular it seemed. It may have been some sort of natural charisma, or his words were actually inspiring. Storm didn't admire him or anything like that, and it actually mystified him how such a man could be so popular. He decided not to think about it too much, and have breakfast.

After getting some cereal, Storm and his team sat down with team CCRE. Storm glanced down the row and all four of them were there—Crystal, Cirocco, Rayne, and Ember. Crystal looked tired. "Well, how's my favorite team other than my own doing today?" Storm asked.

Crystal, whose face had almost fallen into her pancakes, snapped up. "We're all well, I think," Crystal said, looking to her right where sat the rest of her team. "Cirocco, want to say anything?"

"Not particularly, no," Cirocco said slightly irritated. His Altlesian accent made him sound even more irritated than he probably was though. "I think you summed that up pretty well."

"Cirocco, it doesn't take a genius to see that something's bothering you," Storm said. "What's wrong?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Cirocco replied. Odd, it wasn't like him to keep anything to himself. Usually he said anything that came to mind, regardless of what reaction it might illicit. Who knew what this was about?

"Cirocco, spill it," Rusti said. "You'll feel a lot better with whatever this is off your chest."

Cirocco sighed and said, "I'm worried about my mother." If Storm was remembering correctly, Cirocco's mother was a widow with both kids out of the house as far as he knew. It made some sense that, with his mother in Atlas, and the CCT down, he would have trouble contacting his mother. "I've sent a letter, but I don't know when she'll get it. She kind of… relies on me, in way."

"I know that," Crystal said. "If you'll remember, my father's a widower too."

"Hm, maybe those two should get together," Rusti joked.

Storm looked over at Azura, who was sitting next to Rusti. "Azura, mind whacking him for us?" he asked.

"Sure," Azura replied, and gave him a light whack upside the head.

Rusti held the part of his head that had been hit. "You guys are gonna give me brain damage or something."

"I think we'll be able to live with that," Rayne said. He turned to Storm. "Hey, Storm, are you doing anything tonight?"

"I don't know. Why?" Storm asked his twin brother.

"Well, I was thinking, maybe it'd be good if we could talk for a while about stuff. You know, how we used to?"

"Sure, I guess." He and Rayne hadn't seen each other much since arriving at Haven. First there was being assigned to different teams, then the incident in the cafeteria that caused both of them to be sent on some kind of mission. It would be good to see his brother again, and get to talk with him one-on-one. "Do you want me to stop by your room?"

"Sure." It was good to have some connection to his family here. He had trouble with maintaining contact with the rest of his family, trouble remembering anyway. He thought that he'd enjoy knowing what Rayne was up to—especially what was the deal with him and Ember, as he wondered if he should be looking forward to having a sister-in-law soon, though that may have been thinking too far ahead.

"You know, I've wondered what it's like to have a sister," Crystal said.

"I say it's overrated," Cirocco said. "Mine's crazy."

"Yeah, so is mine," Storm said.

"Well mine's literally certifiable. Part of her brain was replaced by a machine, and that was after my dad died, and if you've spent any amount of time around her, you know she's insane."

"I met his sister in Vale," Faye said. "She seemed a little defensive, but not quite insane."

"She told me about that," Cirocco said. "How exactly did you knock her out?" Why did Faye knock out Cirocco's sister?

"I used Ember's energy manipulation to alter the flow of energy to her brain, making her fall unconscious."

"That's a way I haven't thought of to use it," Ember said.

"It is very effective, though I doubt it would work on Grimm."

"Excuse me, but why did you knock out Clove?" Crystal asked, sounding like she was holding back some significant outrage. That seemed to be a question that almost everyone wanted to know.

Faye looked nervous. "Well, I, uh," she started, but didn't find the words to continue.

Going to her defense, Storm said, "Knowing Faye, it was probably perfectly reason, and we don't really need to question her about it. Do we?"

That seemed to satisfy most. Everyone knew that Faye didn't make a decision lightly, or lash out indiscriminately. Whatever reason she had was good enough for everyone. Well, almost everyone. "I want to know," Rusti said. "Cirocco, you know, right? Tell me why she did it."

"Actually, Clove didn't tell me," Cirocco replied. "It really annoys me when someone doesn't tell me something. Why can't everyone be truthful?"

"I don't know, Cirocco," Rusti replied. "I don't know."

Faye continued to look nervous as Rusti eyed her suspiciously. Storm shot a look back, and he let up. He knew this wouldn't stop people from being suspicious, but at least Rusti wouldn't stare for now.

Eventually Faye would have to tell, and if not to them, at least to Storm. He wanted to know the truth, but he would let Faye come to him when she wanted to, not when he told her to.

* * *

 **I don't have a lot of energy right now, so I'll just be random. Want a movie with Carrie Fischer (I don't know if that's spelled right) in it that's not Star Wars? Watch the Blues Brothers, a funny, musical film, where Carrie Fischer is absolutely crazy, kinda like Clove is I guess. Hey, I connected the two things!**


	7. Chapter 7: Workout

**This is the third chapter, and we're still in the reintroduction phase, kinda. Oh, goodie. Also, sorry about not posting yesterday, but it completely slipped my mind.**

* * *

Faye sat down on the cold stone floor of the dorm room. Except for the work desk and the dressers—which were currently covered in stuff—the floor was the only place that was flat enough for this. She put a coin down, leaving her hand on it for several seconds. She then took her hand away, keeping it raised above the coin. When the coin did not move for several minutes, she slammed her fist onto her bed and hissed, "Darn it!"

No one was around, so she let the outburst out. While she would have never said anything like that when her team was around, letting her feelings out sometimes felt good. Sometimes it was a chore to keep her emotions in, but most of the time it was well worth it.

She had not used Polarity since the battle, and since then she had heard of the death of Pyrrha Nikos—the one whose semblance she was mimicking. She did not yet know if she could mimic the semblances of the dead, so far only the living. This was the first time she had tried, and it seemed that she had failed.

Then again, it might be her fear. She had heard that fear could sometimes interfere with some people's semblance. She wondered if it was her fear of failing or Nikos being dead that stopped her. One could be helped, the other could not. She wondered which it was.

There was a knock on the door, and she picked up the coin quickly. She answered, "Yes, who is it?"

The door opened—which always drove her crazy when someone did that—and on the other side was Lorna. Lorna with her ginger hair and fox ears had been her friend since they were students together at Asylum.

"Hey, Feather—excuse me, Faye," Lorna said. The sound of her first name was annoying to her. Her parents had been very uncreative with that one, as feathers were her way of showing her Faunus heritage, just as Lorna's was fox ears. She much preferred her middle name, and Lorna knew it. That is what made Lorna laugh nervously.

"Hello, Lorna," Faye replied, ignoring the slight. "What is it?"

"Remember team SFRN?" She did. Team SFRN was from Vale, and when Beacon fell, SFRN transferred to Haven. If she remembered correctly, Storm's cousin Redell was on that team.

Faye nodded saying, "Yes."

"Well, I decided to show the team leader around the city. Do you want to come?"

While Faye wanted to stay and practice, she also wanted to be around Lorna. Since Faye had come to Haven, Lorna's team—team AWLH—had been very busy, and she had not gotten many chances to meet with her friend, so any opportunity to be around her would be welcome. "Yes, I would."

"Great then. Let's go." Faye followed Lorna as she left her team's room, and walked to team SFRN's.

She had gotten used to the drywall of Beacon, so the stone corridors of Haven made her return to the feelings she had once had when she first arrived. She felt trapped almost, underground as they were. Haven's rooms were carved out of a mountain, and had been used as a military base during the Great War. After the war, it was converted into the Huntsmen academy that it was now, but it still had an almost oppressive feel to the place.

Headmaster Forester declared that classes would start up until three days from now. It was so that the students could get some rest after returning from the tournament. Faye certainly thought she could use the rest, as did many others.

As they went along, they passed team SSSN's room. The door was open, and while Faye could see into it, she felt it was still an invasion of privacy, and kept her eyes straight. SSSN was one of the more popular teams on campus, and off it, and entirely comprised of male students. She could almost smell the testosterone coming out of the room—or at least, she hoped it was testosterone.

Faye so hoped that Scarlet did not notice her. He had tried talking to her once before, and it was only her fear of reprisal that kept her from slapping him for what he called her. Unfortunately, he may have sensed that he was being thought of, and his voice crept out from the room. "Hello, girls. How's it going?"

There was no ignoring him, and Lorna probably did not know his reputation, so she would not help her get out of this. She decided to face this. Faye turned around and saw Scarlet David, face-to-face. "We're fine," Lorna said. "We were just on our way to meet one of the new teams—SFRN."

"Ah, team SFRN," Scarlet said. "Well, give them my best…" Then it seemed that Scarlet finally noticed Faye, despite the fact that even slouched she was slightly taller than Lorna standing straight, which should have made her instantly noticeable. Sometimes, it paid to be figuratively invisible. "Oh, sorry, love."

She sighed painfully. "Excuse me, but why did you call me 'love'?" Faye asked.

"Sorry, again," he said nervously. "And I'm sorry for what I called you before."

"Before?" Lorna asked. "You two have met?"

"Yes, and I do not want to talk about it," Faye said, irritated.

"Wait, what'd he called you?" Lorna asked.

"Please stop," Faye said.

"No, I want to know what he called you." Lorna looked intently at Scarlet.

He gave in and told her. "I called her a bird." Lorna eyes grew wide. "It's slang from where I come from."

"And where is that from exactly—the moon?" Lorna said. "And slang for wha… I don't want to know." She turned to Faye. "Faye, let's go. Scarlet, don't ever talk to us again." Lorna grasped Faye by the hand, and led her away from Scarlet.

Once they were some rooms away, Faye smiled a little. "You know, in hindsight, that is a little funny," Faye said.

"Well…" Lorna laughed a little. "I guess it is."

They eventually got to team SFRN's room, and when they did Lorna knocked on the door. A voice came from inside. "Who is it?"

"Welcoming comity," Lorna answered back.

Faye turned to Lorna. "We are a comity?"

"It's an expression," Lorna said. "Though if we're a comity, we're a pretty small one." Lorna turned back to the door. "We want to show you around. Can we come in?"

"Sure," said the voice. Lorna opened the door, and inside was a bit of a mess. It seemed as though they were in the middle of unpacking, and no one wanted to finish the job. The only person around was a short woman with blonde hair and brown eyes in a Haven uniform sitting on the edge of a bed trying to sort things. "Sorry about the mess. I don't know what to do with my team's stuff, and two of them are out sparring while the other is on a manhunt."

"A manhunt?" Lorna said.

"Yeah, Fuchsia is out looking some guy she was dating during the festival."

"Wait, Fuchsia?" Faye said.

"Yeah, that's her name. What about it?"

"I believe I met her during the battle of Vale. Which means that the one she is after is my teammate, Rusti."

"Oh!" she said, stretching out the word. "Then I'm sorry, but you're not going to be at full strength for a while. She is going to talk his ear off when she finds him."

"Really?"

"Yeah. While she was in the hospital after the battle, he dumped her. And not even in person—with a card he left! The nerve of that guy." She shook her head. "Anyway, she was really upset when she started looking for him, and is probably going to find him and demand an explanation." Faye nodded in understanding. This could be bad.

"Anyway, what's your name?" Lorna asked.

"Oh, sorry, I guess I skipped that. I'm Saffron Florian."

"Lorna Sionn."

"Faye Elric."

"Well, now that that's settled, let's see what kind of tour you have planned."

As they were about to leave, two people walked by. One was the lime green-haired Crystal, in her finely made dark green tunic and pants, with the Crystal Blades on her back. Next to her was a tall man in finer clothes of similar color, with graying brown hair, and an emerald encrusted rapier at his belt. The man had a certain noble and almost terrifying air to him. She wondered who he was, and why Crystal was with him.

Then she caught sight of his symbol on his belt. It was the very same symbol that Crystal had stitched on her tunic's shoulders. She realized who he was—who he had to be. He was Lord Dustin Taryn, descendant of kings, member of the Mistral Council, and father of Crystal. She wondered what Lord Taryn was doing here.

But the concerns of lords were probably nothing that she had to worry about. She turned back to her friends, and followed them.

* * *

 **No, I'm not going through why Faye's last name is "Elric" again. You seriously don't want to know.**


	8. Chapter 8: Talk is a Bargain

**This and the last chapter really work together as a pair, but unfortunately I didn't release them together. I probably should have. Also, this chapter contains something that may be disturbing for some people. I won't spoil it, but let's just say we'll find out what Weiss meant by "executed".**

* * *

Storm watched as Cirocco performed a triple backflip across the balcony. As he landed, he was a foot away from the edge. It was impressive, probably the most impressive thing any of them had done all morning. Cirocco turned to the others and said, "Beat that."

They had been comparing acrobatic talents since breakfast, and so far Cirocco had been the best. Of course, Rayne wasn't competing—he wasn't the most physically or agile person so it was understandable. Now it was Rusti's turn.

"Okay, kids, watch this," Rusti said, taking a running position towards the wall. Storm shook his head at being called a kid—Rusti was probably only a few months older or younger than him. It was then that he wondered what exactly everyone's birthdays were. He'd have to ask them.

Rusti ran towards the wall, and as he reached it, he jumped. His feet met the wall, and he jumped off it, with nearly twice the height. He finally landed a few inches from the hand railings.

"Oh I can do better than that," Storm said, taking his position.

"Really? You're a lightweight; how can you beat that?" Rusti said.

"Just watch."

He ran at the wall, and jumped onto it as Rusti had done. But then he ran up the wall, and jumped off as soon as gravity began to take hold. He got more distance than Rusti did, and then he realized how bad that was. He was going to fall over the edge!

He had put too much strength into the jump, and now he was going fall off the mountain! He couldn't control which direction he went in midair. He was panicked. As he was about to fall past the edge he reached towards the hand railing, and tried to grab hold. His hands grasped the hard metal, and he stopped going away from the mountain, instead swinging back towards it. His feet slammed against the outside of the balcony, and he pushed back against it, swinging over the hand rail and landing back on the balcony.

Everyone just stood there amazed, except for Storm who didn't feel like it and sat down. He was sweating despite the cold temperature. "That trumps all," Rusti said.

"You could be an acrobat if you weren't a Huntsman," Cirocco added.

"I didn't know you were the agile," Rayne said.

Storm smiled, though he felt it was a weak smile, and said, "Neither did I."

He had just come face to face with a death of his own making. He'd been in battle, sure, but that… that was his own fault. No one to say was better than him, or to overcome. It was just his sheer incompetence that put him in danger. At least he was strong enough to survive it.

He shrugged off this giddy feeling of cheating death and turned to the others. "So, what do you guys want to do now?" he asked, half laughing.

Rusti looked at him oddly and said, "Well, uh…"

"Say, we've all got family in the other kingdoms. How's it going with trying to stay in contact him them after the CCT went down?"

After a pause, Rusti was the first to speak up. "Well, I didn't really talk to my family that much, but lately I've been wanting to talk to my brother. He's finally got someone funding his work with mechanical exoskeletons to reinforce someone's own skeleton."

"Huh, I use a similar exoskeleton in combat, but it just enhances my strength." He had built it a while back, in his Sanctum days.

"Huh, maybe you two should compare notes." Rusti had a good idea, but he wouldn't particularly want to talk shop like that. "What about you two?" Rusti said as he gestured to Storm and Rayne.

"Well, Redell's going to school here now, so we can talk to him whenever we want," Storm explained. Rayne probably wouldn't want to talk about the family, so Storm would instead. "I didn't really keep in contact with the rest of my family anyhow."

"Just the opposite for me," Cirocco said. Everyone turned to him. "Since my dad was killed and my sister Clove went crazy, my mom's kinda relied on me a lot for emotional support. Before the CCT went down, not a week would go by without a call to my mom. Now we're reduced to letters, and those take days to get through, and they might not even get through sometimes."

"Huh," Rusti said. "So, did your mom remarry after your dad died?"

Cirocco looked and Rusti angrily. "First, don't just say he died. He was killed by the White Fang for no reason other than he worked for the Schnee Dust Company. Second, she has never even considered remarrying, and you know why? He was probably the greatest man who ever lived! I'm just sorry I didn't get to know him more before the $*#&ing White Fang killed him." And he stormed off angrily.

Rayne turned to Rusti. "Rusti, as always, you've managed to upset everyone." And then Rayne left.

Rusti shook his head, frustrated. "I didn't know he was going to do that! I didn't mean to get his upset." He paced from one end of the balcony to the other. "I just…"

Storm decided now was a good time to let Rusti know some things he'd found out over time about that particular incident. He tried saying this as sensitively as possible. "His father was Jay Zaphyr, and board member for the Schnee Dust Company. He had quite a payroll, and it's not trauma or anything that put this idea in their head that he was a great guy; he really was. He was a philanthropist like nobody's business.

"But that didn't matter to the White Fang. In fact, they murdered him on live television, and mutilated his daughter right after him. The man who did it is a well-known agent of the White Fang—Adam Taurus. During the Grimm invasion, Cirocco ran into him, and even tried to kill him. He failed, but Taurus decided to let someone else kill him. In true movie villain fashion, this failed, and he's now even angrier than before."

Rusti's tan skin paled. "How is he still functional?"

"I don't know, but I can tell you this: he channels his anger into his attacks. Turns what's supposed to be his defensive Aura into offensive. And every time he loses, he gets more anger, and now… I think that anger's the only thing that keeps him going. The drive for revenge is more powerful than his grief. I think that after it's over—Taurus dies by his or someone else's hand—he's going to finally run out of steam. He'll shut down. Maybe then he'll be more manageable."

"Who knows," Rusti said. Then he cocked his head. "You think he'd calm down if he had a girlfriend?"

Storm laughed and shook his head. "Rusti, even if he had a girlfriend, he'd lose her. He has no problem with saying the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. She'd get tired of him saying every single little flaw about her."

"I don't know," Rusti said with an odd smile. "I think I can find someone for him."

"Rusti, count me out of this."

"Suit yourself, but I am going to make sure he has a girlfriend by the time of the next broken moon."

Storm shook his head. "Remind me to put this on your tombstone: "Died trying to get date for a guy he didn't actually like."

"I've given him enough crap; I might as well try to do this for him."

A chill went up Storm's back and he shook. "Hey, it's cold out here. We should go inside."

Rusti nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good."

Storm got up and walked back inside the mountain. As Rusti followed, Storm asked him, "Out of curiosity, when's your birthday?"

"March first, actually." Rusti chuckled a little. "I was almost born in February twenty ninth, and that would've been weird."

Storm laughed. "Yeah, that would be weird; you'd only have a birthday every four years."

"At least, by now, I'd be able to say I was four." They both had a good laugh. "What about yours?"

"Sometime in April. I'm not telling you which day; I don't trust you that much."

Rusti frowned. "That's not very nice. I told you mine."

"I'll tell you in April." While Rusti didn't seem satisfied, he didn't press the topic, which Storm was grateful for. He speculated—he hoped—that Rusti would forget this conversation by April. As much as he may like or dislike Rusti, he didn't he would want whatever present Rusti gave him—especially after the conversation about getting a girlfriend for Cirocco.

* * *

 **I heard somewhere that the White Fang's cause is justified. I tell you this: When a cause is reduced to terrorism, it ceases to be justified. The White Fang are not heroes; they are villains of the worst sort. They are terrorists in a world where fear brings about an hoard of monsters! But as to what's in this chapter, I have no idea where that came from. Half the time I just write with not much plan with what the dialogue is about.**


	9. Chapter 9: The Sword and the Bow

**Has anyone ever thought of making a character who was a horse Faunus? Just a thought. Also, some may find this chapter reminiscent of Volume 3's "Brawl in the Family", and so do I.**

* * *

Faye was down at the docks wishing Crystal a farewell along with Ember and Azura. Crystal was going back to Mistral to attend a public viewing of a meeting of the Mistral Council. According to Crystal, it was at her father's request—and Faye could certainly understand wanting to please one's father. It was then that _she_ showed up.

A woman with an unimpressive build, blue hair several shades darker than Azura's, and slightly tanned skin walked off of a ferry wearing a long blue coat and a long bow and a quiver full of arrows over her shoulder. Faye wondered who that was, and so did Taline, who happened to be around the docks. "Who are you?" Taline said loudly enough for the woman to hear over several paces and Faye to hear even farther away.

Faye took an interest in this, and so did Crystal despite her responsibilities to her father.

The blue coated woman smiled. "I'm, shall we say, a visiting professor." She looked around and her smile disappeared. "What are so many students doing outside of class?"  
"Didn't you hear? The teachers have all been arrested, and classes are postponed until they can come up with replacements."

"Well, who's in charge of the school then?"

"Me I suppose." Lord Taryn's voice carried all the way from the entrance as he walked towards the docks. "So, you're involved with this?"

"What, the school?"

"The conspiracy!" Taryn drew his sword and pointed it at the woman. "How do you plead?"

"Innocent, but I feel like that's not going to matter to you." The woman drew her bow, but not any arrows. "Do we really want to do this, Dustin?" Who was she to use Lord Taryn's first name?

"Come with me and we may be able to sort this out, Jayana." So that was the woman's name—Jayana. It was an interesting name, if nothing else. It sounded familiar though. "Maybe you're not one of them."

"You wouldn't want to know what I know, Dustin. You wouldn't. Don't try to force me to give it up." Faye then wondered how they knew each other, but decided it did not matter. If Taryn was going to do things like this, then she feared for the safety of Mistral.

"You've been keeping secrets, then. If you don't tell me what this is about, then I have no choice but to do battle."

"I just want to teach, but if it's a fight you want," she drew an arrow and raised her bow, "it's a fight you'll get."

After a tense moment, Taryn charged. Jayana shot an arrow at him, but she seemed to miss rather ridiculously, being several feet away from her target. Then, a high pitched noise came from the arrow, and Tayrn stumbled. In fact, Faye felt a little disoriented from where she was standing—perhaps that was the purpose of that arrow.

Taryn recovered, and then continued to charge. She shot another arrow near him, but this one was knocked away by a wave of green energy that seemed to come from Taryn's aura. But then it exploded in a burst of smoke that seemed to expand around Taryn. Another energy wave burst forward, and the smoke dissipated.

Taryn did not charge again though. It only made sense when Faye realized that she had neglected to watch Jayana, as she was no longer where she had been standing. In fact, Faye could not see where she had gone at all. Strange.

Then a blue blur began to circle Taryn at incredible speed. Arrows would shoot from the blur at Taryn at random times. Sometimes Taryn blocked, other times not.

Faye switched semblances to Crystal's, so as to try and see what was going on more clearly. It seemed to help a little, but not much. She did not get a very clear image, and could only hold it for a brief amount of time. The only thing she could confirm from that was Jayana was the blur.

Jayana then jumped into the air and fired an arrow straight down at Taryn. This one he sent back at her, which messed her up a little. When she landed, Taryn lunged at her. She blocked with her bow, and then tried hitting him in the head with it. He repulsed again, sending her back a ways.

She did not have much time to recover as he pursued. He lunged again, and she managed to deflect it. But then he pulled out a dagger, and lunged with it as well. She managed to trap it between the shaft and the cord of her bow. Then a pistol barrel deployed from it and fired.

Jayana staggered back as her aural collapsed. "I win," Taryn announced.

She shook her head and said, "I don't stop when my aura does." She then drew an arrow and it dispensed a cloud of smoke. It engulfed both of them.

Faye had no idea what was going on in there, as not even using Crystal's semblance was working in there. It became less a spectator sport and more a game of waiting. Who would emerge from the smoke victorious, and who would fall? Everyone watched for several minutes waiting for something to happen.

"What's going on?" Faye jumped at the sound of Storm's voice. He then looked apologetic. "Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

"If you must know, some woman with a bow showed up and her and my father are now fighting," Crystal explained.

Storm looked questioningly at Crystal. "Is that the headgear kind of bow or the weapon?"

"Weapon."

"Ah." Then Storm looked at the smoke. "Huh, so you're all watching a cloud of Dust?"

"That's not dust; that's smoke," Crystal said. "Don't you know anything?"

Storm frowned. "That's not exactly smoke; it's a gas mixed with a couple kinds of Dust to produce an impenetrable barrier of privacy. You can't hear, smell, or sense anything in it." He pointed to it. "You can see a sort of pinkish hue around the edges—it gives the whole thing away."

Faye considered what that might mean. "So they could be carrying on a conversation in there without anyone knowing?"

"I guess so, yeah."

"I wonder what they are talking about then."

Crystal had a different question though. "How do you know about the smoke then?"

"Well, my mom uses it sometimes when she's out on missions. She's a Huntress."

Crystal had a contemplative look as she said, "Then perhaps your mother's fighting my father?"

Storm laughed and shook his head. "No, I doubt it. She's probably out on some mission right now or something like that." He paused. "Though… Nah!"

A moment later, Jayana and Lord Taryn walked out of the cloud side by side, weapons put away, and without the slightest bit of aggression towards each other. And Storm's head slammed into his hand. "What is wrong?" Faye asked.

"That's my mom," he said painfully.

"She seemed to know my father," Crystal added.

He looked over at her. "I didn't know that. Apparently she has a larger circle of friends than I thought."

Then Faye realized where she had heard that name before—on the news. She looked at Storm. "So, you are one of _those_ Sapphires."

"Yep, I'm one of those Sapphires."

"I did not realize that your uncle and your mother were part of the same family; I thought it was a coincidence."

"Well, it's not. My uncle Norbert is my mom's brother."

Crystal cocked her head. "Then why do you have her name and not your father's?" she asked.

Before he could answer, Jayana—his mother—waved at them. "Hey, Storm," she called as she walked over to them. "How's my favorite Storm?"

He face-palmed again. "I'm fine, Mom."

She looked at Faye and Crystal. "Who are your friends?"

"This is Faye, and this is Crystal. Girls, meet my mom."

* * *

 **No, my own mother's not like that (mostly).**


	10. Chapter 10: Making Plans

**Sorry about not posting yesterday. I honestly forgot. But it doesn't matter as much because almost no one seems to read this.**

* * *

Storm was nervous about his mom talking to Faye. Crystal had gone with her father soon after the fight, so there wasn't much to be revealed to her. He was nervous that his mom would say something to embarrass him in front of Faye. Fortunately, his fears were for nothing, as she was more interested in Faye.

She kept asking Faye questions about herself, which she didn't seem to like. In fact, he tried to help Faye as much as possible, but there was only so much he could do. Faye looked like she wanted to run, but didn't.

Finally his mom said she had to go. "Well, goodbye, Mrs. Sapphire," Faye said.

"See you later, mom," Storm said.

"Bye." She waved as she walked away.

Storm and Faye both breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought she might never go," Faye said. "Then we would have to bury her here."

"Most of my family on my mother's side have the tendency to talk a lot when they get going, whether or not they wanted to talk in the first place," Storm explained. "Redell's an exception, but it seems like the only one."

Faye nodded. "I understand; my father also is very talkative."

"Huh. Mine's not as much." He grinned. "This is probably the first time you've actually talked about your family to me."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I think. Though maybe you have and I'm just forgetting; I tend to do that. I'm sorry."

Faye seemed to accept that. "I prefer not to talk about my family, if it is all the same to you." Her gaze hardened slightly. "And if at all possible, I would like it if you do not ask about my extended family, or comment that my appearance is like that of a Schnee. And before you ask, as far as I know, they are unrelated."

Storm nodded. He could understand that. Really he hadn't really noticed the similarities, but now that he was looking one could draw comparisons. They both had white hair and blue eyes, but other than that there wasn't much. But he wouldn't mention it; it seemed like a touchy subject. "If you don't want to talk about it, then we won't."

Faye smiled. It was a nice smile, and something he didn't see much. "Thank you."

"No problem." Changing the subject he asked, "So, what do you want to do for our first date?"

Faye seemed like she was about to say something, then stopped. She then seemed to contemplate for a while and said, "I do not know. Let us try to agree on a few things first."

"Alright, go ahead."

"I have no known allergies to food, though I would like to eat food I am somewhat familiar with."

"Yeah, same." It actually made him proud to known he couldn't be brought down easily by a piece of food, though there were a few things that he wouldn't eat.

"I would also not like to go to a fast food restaurant, though I understand if we go to one." He would probably try springing for something at least classier than fast food. Maybe a less than formal restaurant or something.

"Alright. What else?"

"We split the bill so that we both pay for our own meals."

"If you want to," he replied. While he was willing to pay for hers, if she wanted to pay for herself, he wouldn't try to stop her. "So, do you want to pick the place, or should I?"

"By all means, do so. I do not know many restaurants around here. We did not eat out much in family."

He nodded. He could think of a place Faye might like. Though there was one thing he would wanted to get out of the way. But Faye said it before him. "I would prefer it not be very formal. I do not think I would like it."

"Oh believe me; my family never went to fancy restaurants. Even with being a commissioned Huntress and an accountant, my family didn't like to go to one without something big to celebrate, and usually it was without me and my siblings."

Faye cocked her head. "Your father is an accountant?" He nodded. "How…? How did your parents meet?"

"I don't ask. I'm not that curious about it."

She then asked, "And you have siblings other than Rayne?"

"Yep; I have an older sister and an even older brother. Really, even Rayne's older than me—by one minute anyway. Though sometimes it feels like I'm the older brother." Faye nodded, understanding. "Do you have siblings?"

"No, though I do have a cousin…" She turned away, upset like she hadn't realized that she was going to say that until too late.

He realized what he had done and said, "I understand; you don't want to talk about your cousin or anyone. I'm sorry."

"No, no, I apologize," she said, turning back to him. "I just… That branch of the family is a sensitive subject. I am sorry."

"Let's just say we're both sorry, and keep going." She nodded. "Good. Now, before we say anything else, I should tell you that I can't drive."

Faye cocked an eyebrow. "You cannot drive a car?"

"Yeah, while I could, maybe, figure out how to drive one on the fly, I don't want to. Do you know how?"

"No."

There was a long pause before Storm said, "Well, I guess we're taking the bus."

* * *

Storm was walking along the hall, ready to go out. He and Faye were making sure that they'd meet up at the docks by 5:00, and it was 4:40 now, so he had plenty of time. Though there was something he didn't expect.

As he rounded the corner, he saw Rusti talking to a young woman in garb that was best described as "making her look almost punkish", and had spikey blueish-green hair. He believed he'd seen her in the tournament—Reese Chloris, he thought her name was. He was worried about what he was talking to her about.

After Rusti said something Storm couldn't hear, Reese punched him in the face and stormed off. Storm walked up to Rusti, now on the floor, and held his hand out. "I think that was actually the most violent response I've gotten today," Rusti said.

Storm thought of team GRDN and asked, "You haven't asked Netia or Gaia yet, have you?"

Rusti accepted the hand, and Storm helped him up. "No, why?"

"They're taken."

Rusti's eyes widened. "I haven't heard that before. Who are the lucky guys?" Storm shook his head. Netia and Gaia were taken with each other, though he wouldn't tell him that.

Instead he said, "Rusti, look at what you're doing. You're trying to get a date for another guy. You don't realize how weird that must be?"

"Well, I guess it's weird, but I'm just trying to do Cirocco a favor. Is that so wrong?"

Storm shook his head again. "Stop. Just imagine what this is like for the girls you've been asking. While I'm not a girl, I think you'd come off as creepy or something."

"Well, what else am I supposed to do?"

Storm considered this for a moment. "Do you know anyone already who might accept?"

"Um, no, probably not."

"Rusti!" The high pitched voice came from behind Storm, and he turned around to see an angry woman with pink hair. "I've finally found you!"

"Fuchsia, what a surprise."

"Can it." She marched over to Rusti and said, "You broke up with me with a card?! In the hospital?!"

"I…"

"You've got some explaining to do Rusti!"

Then something occurred to him—how to kill two birds with one stone. "Do you like guys who tell you the truth?"

Fuchsia turned around and looked at Storm quizzically. "What?"

"I just thought you'd like to meet a mutual friend of me and Rusti's." Oh how he wanted to disembowel himself for this, but suicide really wasn't his thing. Though she did seem interested. "His name is Cirocco. Rusti, mind introducing her to Cirocco?"

Rusti seemed smile with admiration at Storm. "Wait, who is this Cirocco?"

"He's this guy from Atlas that's on team CCRE."

"Oh, team CCRE. Which one is he? Is he the darker haired one with the hat?" No, that was Rayne.

"He's the blonde one who punches stuff."

"Oh?" She stretched out that word for about a second. "And he tells the truth?"

"Oh, all that time. And I think you'll leave him before he leaves you."

Fuchsia smiled. "Well, first impressions can be fun." She glanced at Rusti. "Go one, take me to this Cirocco. Then we can both break your knees." So the ploy hadn't worked. Though maybe Cirocco's personality would distract her.

As Rusti was leading Fuchsia away, he looked back and gave a thumbs up, and Storm mouthed "You owe me one." Rusti nodded, and kept going.

Oh how weird it felt to be setting people up. What was he, a dating site?

* * *

 **Oh, that was awkward to write, and read if I'm correct. Also, I've never described Storm in this I realize. I'll do that now. Storm's hair is brown, his eyes are blueish, his skin is fair, and he's tall. Before you say anything, he is based off of me, kind of. And Rayne does have slightly darker hair and paler skin than Storm, but that's due to slight differences in development (Storm goes outside more, and Rayne stays indoors). But yeah, fun times.**


	11. Chapter 11: A Night Impossible to Forget

**Before you ask, no; _The Red Sunset_ is not based off of any particular restaurant.**

* * *

Storm and Faye stepped into the restaurant _The Red Sunset_ , and were a lot warmer after. _The Red Sunset_ was a restaurant that his family had occasionally gone to. It was nice, though definitely not fancy. The best part was it was warm, so on cold November days like this it was an especially good place.

Storm was extremely nervous though. He was worried about how this might go badly—if he said the wrong thing, or did something else wrong. Of if they'd run into someone who might ruin the whole evening. He hoped this would all go well.

Faye seemed to like it. "This is nice," she said.

"I thought you might like it," he replied. He pulled his hood down, and got him and Faye a table. When they got menus, Faye took out a pair of reading glasses, and put them on. He'd forgotten she was farsighted. After ordering, Faye looked like she wanted to ask Storm something. "What is it?" he asked.

Faye hesitated and said, "I have been wondering who exactly Patricia is."

He grinned. "Well, Patricia is an old friend of mine from Sanctum. We thought we'd be on a team together when we went to Haven—her, Rayne, Pyrrha, and me."

Faye's eyes grew wide. "Pyrrha Nikos?" He nodded. "You knew Pyrrha Nikos?"

"I long time ago, yes."

"Well, what happened? I have not seen Patricia or Nikos at Haven."

He sighed. "Patricia decided she didn't want to be a Huntress anymore, and I don't know why Pyrrha went to Beacon. We didn't talk much after she became famous, but I guess it was because she wanted a fresh start."

"So she was just a friend?"

"Yep, through thick and thin." He realized he was staring at the table, and looked back up at Faye. "What about you? What sort of friends did you have?"

"Well, there was—and still is—Lorna. You have met her." He nodded. "Then there was Kit, who I do not want to talk about."

"Understood," he said.

"And Talon, another sensitive subject."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Is there anything that's not a sensitive subject?"

"My father makes gameplay videos on the internet, and my mother's a librarian."

His eyes widened. "Really? What site?"

"UsPlay, I think." A common site to be posting let's plays. He in fact followed some people on that site.

He was curious now if he'd heard of her father. "What's his username?"

"BirdofPrey14 I believe." He had heard of him!

"Huh. I watched his gameplay of Six Shifts of Terror."

She nodded. "After that he got a lot less sleep for a while, I think." So that's why the next video was of a more low key game; his screams were not fake. "But anyway, enough about my father. Let us talk about other things."

* * *

One the bus ride back to the docks, Storm was tired. The two of them talked a lot, and while it had been a bit of a walk to the bus stop, he had no idea why he was so tired. He started to doze off a little.

He snapped up, looking around. He had dozed off, but that wasn't the most surprising thing. Faye was resting on his shoulder.

He gulped hard. He had no idea what to do. While Faye was probably as tired as he was, he had no idea why Faye would decide to do that. It seemed out of character for her. But he wouldn't wake her; that didn't seem right.

He looked outside the window. Night had fallen, and it wasn't even that late. The days were definitely getting shorter.

The view outside was interesting though. Through the darkness there was some light sprinkling, which caught the orange light from streetlamps, giving a clear view of the rain. Along the road, cars were everywhere, as it was around rush hour, and their headlights' reflected onto tiny drops of water on the window, making them glow brightly. It was a sight the likes of which he hadn't seen in so long, what with him being at Haven, and while it could be considered mundane to some, he sometimes yearned for the mundane.

His life was an interesting one. He knew people from almost all walks of life, from Faye—a woman who came from a poor family—to a noble like Crystal, and even foreigners such as Rusti and Cirocco. He'd fought Grimm and a few White Fang in the battle of Beacon. All in all, college was turning out to be more interesting than he thought it would.

There was a pothole or something in the road, and the bus shook. While it wasn't much, it was enough to wake Faye up. For a moment it seemed to that she was about to go back to sleep, then she snapped up and looked a little concerned. "I…" she started to say, but didn't find the words.

"I didn't want to wake you," Storm said. He hoped she would believe him. If she didn't, then this would be really bad.

"I understand. I just think that… maybe I…" She couldn't find the words.

"Your hood's slipping off." She quickly grabbed her hood and pulled it back up.

He didn't know why she was so worried about whether her hood was up or not. She'd kept it up almost all throughout dinner, and only lowered it when she was sure no one was within line of sight except Storm. Even on the bus she was worried about someone seeing her feathers. He could guess that she didn't want anyone to know she was a Faunus. "Do you think anyone saw?" she asked.

"I don't know." She was very nervous about this. "I doubt anyone would really care one way or the other. I mean, it's not like someone would make a scene on this bus."

"Excuse me?" Storm and Faye looked to the aisle and saw a man standing up. He was tall, muscular, and wore a long dark coat. "I couldn't help but notice a certain something about your heritage."

Faye looked scared, but Storm was angry. "Good grief, I thought we'd moved beyond this sort of thing. Can't humanity just move on from this? If you're an evolutionist, then evolve."

"Now, now, I was talking about a shared heritage." He took off his right glove, and showed his hand to them. He had claws on each one of his fingers. He was a Faunus! "So, Uncle Adam didn't think I could handle this?"

"What are you talking about?" Faye asked.

"Ah, I get it. No talking about our errand. Well I can do this, and I don't need any of your help," the man said as he put his gloves back on. Storm had a theory on what he was talking about, though he didn't want to go accusing this man of anything.

He walked over to a seat near the front, and sat down. Storm was pretty sure that no one had been sitting there before though. That's when he realized that his theory very well could be true.

He turned to Faye and whispered, "I think he's White Fang."

Faye turned to him questioningly. "How do you know?"

He had trouble explained himself like this, but he tried to do his best. "The way he talked, how he thought you had an association with someone you'd never heard of. His "errand" could very well be a mission."

Faye glanced at the man and turned back to Storm. "What do you think his mission is?"

He ran through possibilities as the bus driver announced that they were coming up on the next stop—the ferry docks. He had numerous theories, but none of them seemed any better than the others. He then remembered that they didn't need to theorize. "Faye, there's a semblance that can allow you to read people's minds. Can you mimic it?"

"I do not know. What other details do you have on it?"

"I don't know." Crystal had told him about it from one of the people she'd fought. She hadn't provided him with a lot of details though, and he couldn't just assume. "I really don't know."

As the man stood up from his seat, he walked to the very front. The driver glanced back and said, "Sir, stay behind the line." The man walked right next to him. "Get back behind the line or I'm gonna have to stop the bus."

Then the man raised a pistol and shot the driver in the head.


	12. Chapter 12: Blood

**I just want to warn you, this chapter does contain blood, but it's mostly like giving blood at a blood drive, not a gory mess. Also, blood types will be brought up, and no I don't believe blood types mean anything except what type one's parents had, and who you can give blood to. Anyway, let's begin.**

* * *

Crystal had just finished dinner, and was walking to her team dorm room, when someone tapped on her shoulder. She turned around—even though she didn't need to in order to see who it was—and saw Solana behind her.

Solana Nuri had been one of the students that had come from Beacon after it had closed down. She was a tall woman with tan skin, red hair, and acted more like a commoner than her heritage would suggest. She was descended from the kings of Vale, similar to how Crystal was a descendant of the kings of Mistral. Her heritage was actually the only reason why Crystal interacted with her at all.

"Yes, what is it, Solana?" Crystal asked.

"I was just talking to that team JSPR, and I think you'd like 'em," Solana said. Since she'd lost her own team in the Grimm invasion, she'd been trying to find another team to accept her. So far, no one had been able to put up with her personality. "Though one thing I wonder is this one girl on their team has gloves with her uniform even though gloves are only part of the male uniform. What's with that?"

"I don't know," she said tiredly. She was getting a headache just from talking to her. "Why didn't you ask her?"

"I did, but she didn't want to talk about it. And up until the gloves thing she seemed really nice and forward. What do you think it is?"

She thought about it, and decided on something: she didn't care. Of course, she wasn't going to say that to Solana—that would be rude, and the one thing a Taryn wasn't is rude. "Perhaps she has something about dirt, or her hands get cold. Why else would one wear gloves?"

Solana wasn't satisfied with that, unfortunately. "But why wouldn't she tell me about it?"

"Perhaps you were being annoying and didn't realize it."

"Now how could that happen?" Solana said. Crystal sighed. She just couldn't take a hint.

Then Nixie rounded the corner, almost running. She was also a student originally from Beacon that had transferred to Haven, and Crystal liked her a lot more than Solana. Of course, she was somewhat crazy, but that could be ignored when she was the only one who didn't mind talking to Solana. She had a rather urgent look on her face though. "Nixie, what is it?" Crystal asked.

Panting, Nixie pushed a lock of silvery blue hair off her face, and said, "There was a White Fang... at the docks… Two students were… middle of it…"

"Nixie, take a breath," Solana said. As much as Crystal wanted to hear what it was that Nixie had to say, she had to agree that Nixie should catch her breath before she fainted.  
After a minute of catching her breath, Nixie said, "The White Fang attack the ferry docks in the city. Two students were in the middle of it, and they're sending them and a few others that were injured here for medical attention." The White Fang had attacked so soon after Vale? When would they give it a rest?

But sending the injured to Haven made sense. The medical facilities at Haven were more geared towards wounds received in battle than the hospitals in the city. And while the entire staff had been removed from duty, the doctors were replaced immediately. They were the best for this situation.

But she had one question. "Who were the students?"

"I don't know," Nixie admitted. "But they're asking for blood donations of every type as soon as possible." Crystal nodded, and followed Nixie to the school infirmary.

There were lots of people there, some were there to get stitched up, and others were there to give blood. The two were easily distinguishable by who was lying down or standing up, and by their age usually. There were a lot of both.

One who was lying down was Rusti, though he didn't seem to have any injuries. "What happened to you?" Crystal asked.

"I think they took too much blood," Rusti said tiredly. "I feel woozy." The next generation of Huntsman: a sad sight. "But at least it'll help a little, right?"

Nearby, Azura was sitting in a chair with one sleeve rolled up and a tube in her arm that was taking out blood. "You're here, Azura?"

"Of course," Azura replied. "Might do some good."

"Do you even know what blood type you have?" Crystal asked. The science and medical communities weren't the best outside of the kingdoms, so with Azura being from one of those villages, it was a somewhat legitimate question. She hoped Azura wasn't offended though.

"No, but maybe they'll tell me." Azura turned to the doctor taking her blood. "What blood type do I have?"

"Your blood type is O-, Ms. Eastwood," the doctor replied, looking at a clipboard. "It's a good thing too. We always need donors with that type, especially in times like these."

"Why?" Azura asked.

"Well, they don't teach you this in combat school, but type O- actually can be given to almost anyone, so it's very useful when we don't know someone's blood type," the doctor explained, seemingly eager to pass on this knowledge. "Of course, it means you can only take O- blood, but as long as you don't need a transfusion you should be fine." Azura looked like she understood everything that was said, but she probably didn't.

Changing the subject, Crystal asked, "So, Azura, do you know who the students are who were in the battle?"

Before she could answer, there was a slight commotion in one part of the infirmary. Crystal checked the source with her semblance, and found Storm in the middle of it.

She walked to where Storm was, and she could hear him objecting to something. "Don't do that. I'm fine! Help Faye!" Had Storm and Faye been the ones in the attack?

As Storm got within sight of her eyes, she realized that he was practically fighting the doctors and nurses. She went up to them and asked, "What's going on?"

Storm looked at her and said, "Great, Crystal. Tell them I don't need a transfusion." She quickly looked him over—which was easy considering he had both sleeves rolled up, probably despite his objections—, and the only wounds he had were a few bruises and cuts on his arms. While she wasn't a doctor, he probably hadn't lost that much blood to warrant a transfusion.

Then again, best to air on the side of caution. "If he gives you too much trouble, maybe you should use a tranquilizer."

"We were about to administer one," noted a doctor. Crystal nodded and walked away from the battle, mostly so that she didn't get in the way.

She went over to a doctor who didn't seem to be doing anything other than looking at a clipboard, and asked, "I'd like to know the status of one of the patients: Feather Elric." While Faye probably didn't like people using her first name, the doctors would be working off of files that may or may not note her middle name. "She's a Faunus, white hair…"

The doctor stopped her there. That wasn't the most polite thing for him to do, especially to a lady. "Yes, I know. She's in surgery."

Crystal was shocked, but she tried not to let it show. "For what, exactly?"

"She took a bit of a tumble. I don't know how serious it is, but she should be fine." Lies.

"If you could kindly save the bedside manner for your patients, doctor, tell me how bad it is."

He sighed and said, "She was in a bus when it turned over. I'm honestly surprised she was in as good condition as she was though. She should pull through." He didn't even try to put on a fake smile. "Do you know her?"

She shrugged. "A little."

"Well, a little or a lot, I know that she'd be touched if she knew she had a friend like your concerned for her. But relax; she'll be fine." Changing the subject a lot he asked, "What blood type do you have?"

"A+."

"Well, we don't really need more of that type, so you can go." She looked unsurely at the doctor. "Go on."

She walked away, thinking to herself, "I hope Faye will be alright."

* * *

 **In case you were wondering, here's a list of character blood types:  
** **Storm - AO+  
Faye - AB+  
Azura - OO+  
Rusti - AB+  
Crystal - AA+  
Cirocco - BO-  
Rayne - AO+  
Ember - BB-  
Jayana Sapphire - OO+  
Lord Taryn - AA-  
**

 **I have a few more, but that wouldn't be as interesting. Also, I did minor research on blood types and blood transfusions for this, so I know stuff about this stuff. Yeah, stuff. Anyway...**


	13. Chapter 13: Analyzing the Aftermath

**I sure hope I can write as fast as I'm posting. I'm not even sure how long this is going to be. But anyway, here you go.**

* * *

Storm was lying on his bed in his dorm room, staring straight at the ceiling. It was morning, maybe, or the afternoon—with his window, for once in his life, being to the west, he couldn't tell how early in the day it was. It didn't matter what time it was. He couldn't help but worry about Faye.

How weird had his life gotten? In the past month he'd had more near-death experiences than he'd ever had in his life, and he had shrugged each one off. It didn't seem right, but it was different with Faye. He wanted to protect her, and when he couldn't do anything, he'd worry himself gray. What was going on?

Faye was hurt, and while he'd figured on her being able to protect herself, she ended up needing surgery. It was because of him that she'd been hurt.

He wondered if they'd taken any blood when he was sedated. He remember Faye's blood type from after the battle of Vale—when she was in the hospital—and he could give her blood. Then again, they probably gave her some of her own AB, instead of just A, so his contribution wasn't necessary.

He wondered whose blood it was that Faye had been given. It was useless to speculate, as he doubted that they tracked whose blood went to who. It still didn't stop him from wondering.

There was a knock on the door, causing Storm to answer, "Yes?"

Crystal's voice came through the door. "It's Crystal. May I come in?"

He didn't see why not. As odd as it might be talking to her in his PJs, they were long sleeved and all that, so it probably wouldn't be too awkward for either of them. He called back, "Sure."

Crystal opened the door and walked in. She noticed that he was in pajamas and said, "I could come back if this is a bad time."

"No, it's fine." His aura had healed his wounds as soon as it was able, so all that was left were a few scabs that itched a little, and those were covered by his sleeves anyway. Besides, he wanted to talk to someone. "Is there anything you want to talk about?"

"Why didn't you want a transfusion?" she asked. "Do you have something against needles?"

He chuckled and said, "I don't mind needles. I don't dislike shots either. I hate me getting shots though." Crystal laughed. He had expected that kind of reaction. "Now what did you really want to talk about?"

Crystal seemed almost surprised. It was simple enough, actually, considering how boilerplate the question she'd asked was. She moved past her surprise, and said, "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine," he said. Realizing that wasn't completely true, he corrected himself. "Well, I'm worried about Faye. Do you know if she's okay?" He face palmed. "Why does that name rhyme with everything?"

Crystal shrugged. "I think Faye's alright. She's out of surgery, and last I checked, rather restless for someone to talk to. I believe it would do you both some good to talk."

"Thanks for telling me," Storm said. "One more thing, what time is it?"

"Half past seven."

"What?!" He'd gotten up that early on his own? Just to check, he looked around and saw no one else in any of the vents. "Where are Azura and Rusti?"

"I think Rusti's under observation," Crystal stated. "Something about him saying they took too much blood. Of course, they didn't, he just thinks they did." He chuckled. "And Azura doesn't like being around injured people, so she decided to bunk with us." He shot a questioning look at her. "She slept on the floor."

"The stone floor…"

"She's tougher than you'd think. She actually said it reminded her of home." That was strange. "But anyway, Faye's in the infirmary and you are _going_ to see her." She stepped back through the door with a farewell and closed it behind her.

He wasn't going to argue with that. Though he was going to have to get dressed of course.

* * *

As Crystal stepped into her team's room, she heard a voice sounding like it was coming from a Scroll saying, "…soon after the bus crashed, several trucks containing White Fang Death-Troops came onto the scene and began to attack ferry workers and attempting to sabotage the docks and ferries themselves." That sounded like a news broadcast to Crystal. Cirocco had set his Scroll up against the windowsill, letting everyone see the broadcast.

It continued. "During the attack, local Haven student Storm Sapphire helped fight the Death-Troops alongside his mother, professional Huntress, Jayana Sapphire. They managed to slow them long enough so that additional Huntsmen and Huntresses could arrive."

"Sounds like your brother's a hero, Rayne," Crystal said. "Congratulations."

"Though once it gets to his head," Ember said, shaking her head, "there'll be no living with him. Believe me; my family's got plenty of experience with being heroes. It gets tiresome." She got real quiet and said, "But when they become a villain…"

"Shush, I'm trying to watch this," Cirocco said. Insensitive jerk.

"In other new, the Mistral Council passed a bill calling for the full rearmament of the Kingdom of Mistral and the MDF," the newsman said. "Part of this bill includes the restoration of Haven Academy as a fortress, as well as the construction of an air-fleet that is predicted to take at least five weeks to complete."

Arming Haven? While it had been a fortress in the past, that was a century ago. They couldn't just do that now!

What was going to happen to the academy? Were they going to shut down the academy? She would have to talk to her father about this.

As Azura stood up from the floor, she stretched. "Stiff back?" Cirocco asked.

"Yeah," Azura replied.

"I know the pressure points of the human body," Cirocco replied. That made sense considering he was a martial artist. "I could probably help you with that."

"Nah, I'll walk it off," Azura replied. She put on her flak jacket and asked, "So, when is Mrs. Sapphire's lecture again?"

"After breakfast," Crystal remembered.

"You could probably look at her notes so that you can just sleep through the lecture," Ember said.

Crystal was offended. "I only use my semblance when necessary. To use it that way would be cheating. Besides, she might have heard of me and prepared for that."

Ember nodded and turned to Rayne. "Hey, Rayne, is it weird to hear your mother called Mrs. Sapphire?"

"I little, yeah," Rayne replied. He turned to Crystal. "Is it with the same with you and your father being called Lord Taryn?"

"No, not really," Crystal said. "I guess I'm just used to it."

"Well," Azura said, putting on her long leather duster, "I'm going to get breakfast. Anyone else coming?" There was a general consensus, and everyone went breakfast.

* * *

After they let Faye out of the infirmary, she and Storm went to breakfast. She'd healed quickly, to his relief. Aura truly was a miracle—when it was at full strength anyway. As they were walking in the hall, he just had to say something. "I'm sorry, Faye."

She looked curiously at him. "For what exactly?"

"For letting you get hurt." She didn't say anything, which just made him feel worse. "I missed something so obvious that it should have been child's play, and you got hurt."

"No, you did not," Faye said firmly. She stopped, and so did Storm. "If we attacked him on the bus, who knows what had happened. It might have been worse. Besides, if it was so easy, why did I not realize it?" She had a point; she was smart enough to figure out Pyrrha's semblance years ago, so that showed that she was at least observant or intelligent. "And it was my own fault for getting injured."

"How?"

She hesitated and then said, "I have not been able to use Polarity for some time." That explained why she didn't manipulate the metal on the bus to grant her a less painful crash. "I am unsure what this means, but it may have something to do with Pyrrha Nikos's death."

This was serious. Her fighting style was dependent on Polarity. If she couldn't use it, then… he didn't want to think about it. "We need to do something about this," Storm said.

"I have been trying, but I am no closer to knowing what exactly this has happened than when I began."

He quickly decided something. "After breakfast, we're going to work on restoring that part of your semblance."

"What about your mother's lecture?"

He'd forgotten about that. They would need to attend that lecture, as it was mandatory for all first year students. "Well, we'll do it after the lecture."

"It goes until lunch."

What was with his memory today? "We'll do it after lunch unless she has something planned for this afternoon, and knowing her she probably does."

* * *

 **What do you think of this chapter? Did you like it, dislike it, or are you ambivalent? You can leave a review or not, it's your choice. But I would like feedback on this, just try to phrase it somewhat nicely.**


	14. Chapter 14: Valuable Lessons

**While some may not want to read this chapter because they think it's boring, don't worry, cause it'll get interesting.**

* * *

Storm led his teammates into the large classroom, even though probably none of them wanted to be here. There were dozens of students sitting down and walking about, talking to other students. A few teams that Storm could recognize were CCRE, GRDN, and CRDL originally from Beacon, but there were a lot more teams he didn't recognize. They climbed the stairs up incline of the classroom, and took their seats above CCRE.

"So, what do you think this is going to be about?" Rusti asked, looking at Storm. "She's your mom, after all."

After a moment, he realized something. "I have no idea. This could be about anything."

Rusti sighed. "Well that's helpful."

As his mom entered the classroom, the conversations quickly died down. She still carried her long bow and quiver, which may have meant that she was going to use it for demonstration purposes or something. She set the bow down on the desk at the front of the class, and turned to all of them with a smile. "Well students, time to get some actual knowledge in your heads. Unlike other teachers, I will be teaching every single one of you, not just the ones who need it. This lecture should have something for everyone, no matter how skilled or how unskilled.

"But before we get to that, let's start with introductions." She went over to the blackboard, and picked up a piece of white chalk. She wrote her name as she said, "I am Jayana Sapphire, and yes, _that_ Sapphire. My brother's Norbert Sapphire, my sister-in-law is Shay Sapphire, Locaster is my aunt—not my mother—and yes, there are normal members of my family." Fortunately she didn't mention him and Rayne—the less attention they got the better.

She took an apple out of the desk and tossed it in the air, catching it with the same hand. "The first thing I'll cover is specialization versus generalization; the age old conflict of the warrior. Anyone want applesauce?" She tossed the apple at the crowd, quickly drew her bow, and shot an arrow at the apple, exploding it into goldish mush. "Now that couldn't have been done by a generalist, now could it?" She put the bow back down on the desk, and took out another apple. "Now, any generalists in the crowd?"

After a few moments, hands were raised, and eventually Storm did too. He was probably the best generalist in the crowd. She looked over them, and pointed to one student in particular. "Alright then, you with the green hair." Crystal came down, and stood next to his mother.

Crystal?

Without even asking her name, Mom handed Crystal her long bow and a couple of arrows. "Now, try hitting the apple." The apple flew out of her hand, and Crystal fired an arrow at it. She missed, hitting the stairs, and then fired another which hit dead center. "Well, that was as terrible as I thought it would be. Hand it back now."

Crystal handed it back, and went back up to her seat. She seemed angry, but not very. "Of course, a specialist in swordsmanship probably couldn't even hit that. But that's the thing. Specialists, when they do things, they do them well, unless it's something outside of their skill set. Generalists don't do them as well, but can do more things.

"But in any case, one must learn to make up for their weaknesses with your strengths, and avoid situations where you can't use them. You should know your weaknesses as well, and turn them into strengths. You should apply your skillset carefully; even a less skilled opponent will be able to beat you if their skill set has a weakness they can intentionally or unintentionally use."

As the class went on, his mom covered all sorts of topics. Some of them he didn't need to hear, others were new knowledge to him. By the end though, some of the class was falling asleep.

She took out another apple, and started putting it on peoples' heads. When she set it on their head, they usually woke up. That was, until she came to Rusti. He wouldn't budge. She set it down, and left it as she went down to the desk. She then took out her bow, and fired an arrow at the apple.

Then Rusti did the one thing he shouldn't have; he woke up and the apple rolled off. Immediately she fired at the other arrow, this one with was rocket propelled. It hit the first arrow, which then changed directions, going after the apple instead of Rusti's head. The first arrow skewered the apple, and the second imbedded itself on the back wall. Everyone was looking around to see what had happened. "That's why you don't want to fall asleep in my class." She set the bow aside, and Rusti was in speechless surprise.

The electronic school bell rang, and everybody got up. "Hold on for just one minute," she announced, and everyone stopped. After what had just happened, no one wanted to disobey her. "I've arranged a school-wide tournament for everyone starting right after lunch. Each team will send one person to battle it out with everyone else's representatives, and I'll choose who fights who. This will test who was listening and who wasn't." After a moment of silence she said, "You're dismissed."

As everyone filed, Storm turned to his team. "So, who should our team send?"

"I vote you," Rusti said.

"Now hold on," Storm said. "I'm not the best fighter on this team, now am I?"

"You're probably the best for this sort of tournament."

He really didn't want to go through this. He and Faye had to figure out what was going on with her semblance. Then he had a thought. "Who were we going to send to the doubles round again?"

"Uh, I don't remember."

Azura sighed. "Me and Faye, right?"

"Yeah, and since Faye is going to be busy this afternoon…"

"Wait, how do you know what Faye's going to be doing?" Rusti asked.

"Well…" He didn't want to say Faye was having trouble with her semblance; she might not like it if he did. So instead of explained he just said, "Let's just send Azura, okay?"

"Fine with me," Azura said, shrugging.

"As long as I don't have to do it," Rusti said.

Storm looked to Faye, and she nodded with approval. "Good," he said. "Now, let's have lunch."

"Excuse me," a voice said, and a girl who was a blur of dark green hair went between Storm and the rest of his team. The thing was, she didn't touch any of them—she just moved between them.

"Wait up, Sakura," another voice called after her, and two guys—one with red hair the other with orange—nudged past them. "Excuse us."

"I'm not waiting up for Peri to steal my pudding this time," the girl called back, speeding up.

It was a while before SAFR was sure what had just happened. "Okay, who were they?" Storm asked.

"Team JSPR," Rusti said. "They were in the ceremony, remember?" Storm shook his head. "You must have passed out then."

Storm scoffed at that idea. "I did not pass out. And why would I pass out anyway?"

Rusti shrugged. "Well I can't think of any other reason why you wouldn't remember."

"Maybe you were simply tired and fell asleep," Faye suggested. "It would not be the strangest thing."

"Wouldn't I remember at least the fact that I had gone to sleep?" Storm suggested. "Anyway, maybe I just wasn't paying attention, okay? It doesn't mean anything."

"Well, just don't tell them that," Rusti said.

"Good idea." He wasn't sure what their temperament was, so if they were sensitive about that sort of thing, he didn't want to hurt their feelings—whether or not they might try to take retribution.

With that subject out of the way, Storm started to wonder what was for lunch.

* * *

 **Yes, William Tell. No, Jayana couldn't have hit Rusti's head (she's too good for that). And yes, a tournament, as in you're going to learn about a few new characters (maybe... definitely) and see canon ones as well. I'm actually debating right now who should the tournament (yes, I haven't finished it yet). Post which character, canon or Haven, should win the tournament in your opinion as a review. I might even do the one you suggest, though there are a lot of powerful characters just waiting to be unleashed.**


	15. Chapter 15: Fight!

**And now, for the first round of the tournament. Place your bets (figuratively; I don't want actual money being thrown away for this) on who you think will win.**

* * *

As everyone filed into the sparring room, Crystal searched for Storm and Faye. She wondered where they were, since Azura and Rusti had already arrived. It was getting crowded, so she wanted to save a couple seats for them.

Since coming to Haven, she'd come to find friends in both of them. Storm with his witty remarks, and Faye with her more intellectual side that was rarely seen, had become very dear to her, dearer than anyone else—even her fellow heirs, Solana and Nixie. She wondered where they were.

She wanted to ask Azura and Rusti, but they were across the room, and she wanted to make sure Storm and Faye had seats. Eventually, she gave up waiting, figuring that the two of them were doing something completely different. Taline Ironskin and her partner Raye Custer took the seats she was reserving.

Then it began. Mrs. Sapphire walked onto the arena floor and said, "Alright, this is a schoolwide tournament, and I won't be going by school year, though both sides of the fights should have a good chance of winning. Now, everyone, who will be representing which team?"

Hands rose, including Crystal's, and one by one she went through each one. They would say who was representing the team, and lower their hand. Some of them were Sun Wukong of SSSN; Gaia Katsaros of GRDN; Athena Polias of AWLH; Reese Chloris of ABRN; Cardin Winchester of team CRDL; and Redell Sapphire of team SFRN. There were a lot of team leaders.

Eventually, Azura said, "Azura Eastwood, representing team SAFR." Crystal was surprised. She expected Storm or Faye to represent their team. What were they doing?

Then Jayana got to Crystal. "I, Crystal Taryn, will represent my team, team CCRE."

"Alrighty," she said.

Jayana then pointed to Taline. "I'll be representing team TRCS, ma'am." Jayana narrowed her gaze, urging something more. Taline soon caught on. "Right, my name's Taline Ironskin, Ma'am."

"Good, good. And don't call me ma'am." Crystal grinned.

Then another team announced their representative. "My teammates have decided that I, Jasper Ironwill of team JSPR, should represent my team." Taline seemed angered at the speaker, though why she wasn't sure. She tried remembering where she had heard the name Jasper before.

"Alright then. That's not confusing at all," Jayana said. "Now that everyone's been chosen, let's fight. Could you, Jasper Ironwill, and Azura Eastwood come down?"

As the two combatants came down, Crystal could get a good look at Jasper. He was a tallish man, about her age, with red hair in a pony tail—as if that wasn't unmanly—, a long maroon coat, and armor on in the standard chest, forearms, and shins arrangement. He didn't carry a weapon, which reminded her of where she had heard that name before. He was handsome too, though that was irrelevant to the match. He took a place beside Jayana and Azura, and stood waiting for the match.

"Alright, whoever gets their enemy's aura down to the red zone first wins. If you get hurt after I call the match, it's your own fault. I don't care what goes on in Vale; I say you'll get what's coming to you at some point." She stepped back to the edge of the arena to a wall computer console, and put up the force field that kept bullets and the like from hitting spectators. "Other than that, no rules. Just fight." There was an electronic ding, and the fight started.

Jasper quickly took off coat, and threw it at Azura. She drew her pistol and fired two shot through it, both of which hit him dead on. However, his aura didn't take as much damage than she would have thought it would. He then rushed Azura, putting his forearms up in front of him. Azura hit what should have been weak points, but he didn't fall. His aura was holding up better than it should have.

Jasper reached Azura, and she turned her pistol shifted forms. It went from a gun to a sword handle of sorts, and a long blade form made of blue Dust energy. She swung it at Jasper, and he blocked with his forearms. She then stabbed, and the blade exploded. It produced a bright blue light that nearly blinded Crystal. Jasper was knocked back, but just fine.

Jasper did a roundhouse kick, knocking Azura's weapon out of her hand. It skidded along the floor to the edge of the arena. Instead of going for it, they both started fist fighting.  
They exchange punches, and both of them were pretty good. Azura was strong, and she went for weak points. Jasper was tough though, and hit hard too. They were almost equally matched, with a slight edge—in Crystal's opinion—on Azura's side.

To prove her opinion right, when Jasper threw a punch, Azura grabbed it and pulled him over her head, and slammed into the ground. It sounded like it hurt a lot. His aura level was only about three quarters damaged though—not quite in the red zone—even if it should have done a bit more.

He rolled away from Azura, and quickly got to his feet. What no one else noticed was that he had picked up Azura's weapon, and turned it into its pistol form. He fired a single shot, and once it hit Azura's aura it took it down from half to the red zone. The bell sounded, signaling the match was over.

How did he…? How tough was his aura?

"You see, everyone," Jayana said as she shut down the force field. "I chose Jasper because I believed he had the best chance of beating Azura. Let this be a lesson to you all—have more than one strategy for fighting, just in case it doesn't work. And also, just because you don't have a weapon doesn't mean you're disarmed."

As Azura and Jasper left, and Jayana called for the next two fighters to come down, Crystal got up to ask Jasper a few questions.

When she caught up to him, he was with his team. Jasper sat next to an orange haired man in battered combat gear who had a shield on his back. Along with them were a couple of girls. One of them had green hair and eyes, a pink combat vest with a black shirt, pink cargo pants, black boots, and an energize smile. The other girl was had light blonde hair and blue-green eyes, and wore a strange yellow-green jumpsuit, with armor on her left arm, but not on her right where she wore a glove that didn't have a twin on her left, and had look of contentment on her face. But her main focus was with Jasper.

"Excuse me," Crystal said and Jasper looked at her along with the rest of his team. "Could I ask you a question?"

"Sure, but not if it's 'am I single?', cause I'm really tired of that," Jasper said.

"Hey, you never get asked that," the orange haired man next to him said.

Jasper wacked him lightly over the head and turned back to Crystal. "What is it?"

"If you don't mind me asking, how can you have so much aura?" Crystal asked.

"Well, if promise not to spread it around, I'll tell you."

"Of course." What reason would she have to spread it around?

"My aura can adapt to things so that they don't do as much damage. Really, most bullet casings are made of the same materials, and the Dust type she used was similar enough to the ones used in my home of Southern Mistral, so her rounds didn't do much damage." Jasper looked thoughtful for a moment. "I wonder how Mrs. Sapphire knew that."

"I don't know," the orange haired one said.

"What I don't know is how anyone can stand your talking," the green haired one added.

"Who are you three?" Crystal asked, pointing to the rest his team.

"I'm Sakura," the green haired on said. "Sakura Hayashi."

"My name's Rowan Arbore," the orange haired man stated.

"And my name's Peri Forst," the blonde girl said. Peri and Jasper shared a glance. "And just so you know, me and Jasper aren't exactly on the best terms right now."

"Why?" Crystal asked.

"She's just so stubborn," Jasper said tiredly. "She always thinks she's right, especially when she's wrong."

"You're the same way," Peri shot back. "And you're always wrong."

"Just in case you thought they went through a bad breakup," Sakura said, "they didn't. They're just like this." She turned to each of them. "You know, you two bicker like an old married couple."

"If you say that about them one more time," Rowan said, "and I'll make sure to dance on your grave after you're dead, which I'll probably have nothing to do with."

"Thanks, I'm really touched," Sakura said, completely honestly. What was with these people?

* * *

 **Oh, JSPR. I really like this team. I hope you guys like them too.**


	16. Chapter 16: Finding Strength Again

**In this chapter, I talk out of a part of my body I didn't know I could. But in all seriousness, I have no idea if any of this is the correct interpretation of aura in RWBY, and I do not believe in it in real life, or did any research on those beliefs to support what's in this chapter. All you need to know is I'm really talking out of places I shouldn't be (guess what that means).**

* * *

Faye sat cross-legged opposite of Storm on her bed. Storm said it helped to be somewhere that she associated with comfort, and the only place she could think of that did not require a trip to the city was her bed. She also had normal clothes on, not her uniform, as Storm said it also helped. If they were going to find out what was going on with her semblance, she had to follow his lead.

Storm had also told her to gather a few things that she had a connection to—something that she had left an imprint on with her aura. According to him, when one left an imprint on an object, it keeps a record of what their aura was like when they left the imprint. They were a metal feather from her weapon, the book "The Free Man"—which her mother had given to her when she left for Haven, and had finished a few weeks ago—, and her reading glasses. Storm had decided that they were just perfect for this.

Faye noticed a look of uncertainty in Storm's face. "What is it?" she asked.

He hesitated before saying, "I honestly don't have much of an idea of what I'm doing. My Aunt Locaster, now she would know what to do—she's a genius with aura. But I have no idea what I'm doing."

Faye grimaced. That was not the most comforting thing to say, but he most likely knew that. Instead she offered some comfort. "If anyone can figure this out, it would be you, Storm."

He smiled. "I'm glad you think so, though you might turn out to be wrong." He looked at the objects. "I'll start with the glasses," he said, picking them up carefully. "If anything here has a record of before and after this stuff started happening, it's these." After a moment he looked quizzically at them and said, "They're cracked."

"The crash," she said.

"Ah," he said as he nodded. He concentrated for a moment. "I… I can feel the emotions you felt as you had them on you." He shuddered. "So much fear."

Nervous, she asked, "Please, if you must read them, at least do not tell me you are."

He nodded, understanding. After a few minutes, he asked seemingly out of nowhere, and without looking at her, "So, how long have you had these?"

"Excuse me?"

"It helps me concentrate if I'm doing two things instead of one." She cocked an eyebrow. "It's weird, I know. But it does help."

Well, if we wanted to know, there was no reason not to tell him. "Well, I got those shortly after my last pair was crushed, about two years ago."

"How were they crushed?"

"A bully stepped on them." Not the best of memories. The only reason she had been bullied was because of her heritage. Though the bully soon learned why he should not have. She smiled slightly at the memory.

"And what happened to the bully?" he asked. "You smiled, and that usually doesn't happen when you get your glasses broken. So what happened; did Lorna beat him up?"

"No, it was…" She stopped herself before she said his name. She did not want to talk about Talon. "It was someone else."

"Alright. I've got the whole thing in order now." He finally looked at Faye. "I can go from start to finish on these, from the day you got them to right now."

After a moment, she said, "And…?"

"And I can tell you, I've got nothing on your semblance." He frowned. "Sorry."

She sighed. She had thought that Storm could give her some answers, but as it turned out, he could not. She felt like either screaming or crying or both, but not with Storm around.

But that was not all he said, fortunately. "But maybe if I look at the feather I can see something about your semblance."

"You know, it could simply be that I cannot use polarity because of Nikos's death," Faye suggested.

"That would suggest you're making a connection to their aura, and using their semblance instead of just mimicking it," he countered. "It's something people can do, but it creates a bond between your aura and theirs. You don't do that though, so I'm guessing it's harmless mimicry. Like my cousin Skye—she can mimic the traits of animals."  
She cocked an eyebrow. "She can?"

"Yep. I'm not sure where that came from, but Aunt Locaster says it might have something to do with her mother."

Confused, Faye asked, "What exactly?"

"Well, she's a Faunus, so…"

"Oh." She realized what Storm meant. It might have something to do with wanting to be like her mother. Of course, she knew little of psychology, so she might be wrong in assuming that theory.

"Yeah. I don't take stock in that much, but that's the current theory." He paused contemplatively. "I haven't seen Aunt Loc in a while though, so it might have changed… I don't know. Let's just work on this."

He set down the glasses, and picked up the feather. He stared at it for a while before asking, "Why'd you make wings anyway…" He cut himself off abruptly. "Oh wait, I remember—Asylum training."

He remembered well, and so did she. The teachers at Asylum, who usually taught Faunus, taught them to create a part of the animal they had a likeness, and to wield it. She was not the only one who built wings though, but she did not want to think of Talon.

After another minute, he exclaimed, "Aha! I've got it. I can see your semblance's work in this." He looked back at Faye. In fact, he seemed to stare for a moment.

"What are you doing?"

"Your aura's changed."

She was confused again. "What?"

"I just noticed it now. I saw it in the battle back in Vale, but I thought it was just your aura going down. But no; your aura's dimmer than before."

While that did not sound good, she had no idea what it meant. So she asked, "What exactly does that mean?"

"The stronger your will, the brighter your aura. While you didn't have the brightest aura already, something's happened to dim it. And it happened shortly after that sniper shot you." She found it hard to meet his gaze just then. "What happened?" he asked, while sensitively, he might as well have yelled it at her.

She did not want to tell him about this. It was private, and it stirred too many bad memories. She looked straight at him—or as straight as she could—and said, "I would appreciate it if you not ask that question now or ever."

Storm frowned. What he said next he said firmly, and with little gentleness. "You've got to face this some time, Faye. If you don't it'll gnaw at you from the inside, eating away at you until your nothing but a shell of your former self. Not being able to use Polarity is just a symptom, and it'll just get worse as time goes on unless you face this."

Faye got up off the bed, and backed off from Storm. Anyone who knew her knew not to use such a hard approach. She even more felt like crying.

But he had a point. The basic principals were there—will equaled strength in aura, and she was not completely sure if she wanted to continue to fight after this. She had to face this and decide what she wanted to do.

"Fine," she said hesitantly. "I'll tell you the story."

"I'm listening," Storm said.

She sat back down on her bed. "You see, growing up, I had no one to look up to. My parents were a librarian and someone who played video games for the internet. I had no heroes. That was, until Talon showed up.

"He became almost a brother to me, and a role model. He attended Asylum, and while he was a year ahead of me, he made sure to help me however he could. I looked up to him, and, well…" She had trouble with this next part.

"Were you attracted to him?" Storm asked.

"No!" That would have been more awkward than Storm had to know. "But soon after he graduated Asylum, he joined the White Fang." He nodded, understandingly.

No, he could not understand. "He betrayed me!" she practically yelled. "He took my trust and my love and he threw it away! Unlike most Faunus, I was taught to deplore the White Fang. They are _terrorists_! They are the most terrible sort of people, and I will not stop until they pay for their actions!"

Storm put his hands up defensively. "Okay, okay! But I think you should remember, not a month ago I though Rayne was in league with terrorists, and he shot at me." He paused. "Just like he did, didn't he?"

She could not talk. He had figured it out—it had been Talon that shot her that night. She had a scar on her shoulder because of him. She might have been killed because of him. But she was not because of him. It made her feel almost helpless.

"Faye," Storm said gently as he put his hand on her shoulder. She started to cry. "You're strong. You're not the best fighter, or the most confident, but you have a strength about you that is rarely seen. You know why?" She looked at him with her vision blurry from tears. "You have understanding. You understand where a villain was made—you were there. And yet, you didn't become one. You know what that makes you?"

"What?" she asked, her voice cracking.

He smiled. "In line to be a hero, Faye. Sometimes, refusing something is a sign of strength, and not joining the White Fang is as sure a sign of strength as I know. And only heroes have that kind of strength."

Storm's words had given her an idea. It did not matter with Talon was with or against her when it came to when she would fight. She would fight, and hopefully, find Talon to give him another chance. After all, everyone deserved a second chance.

She rubbed her eyes with her sleeve, trying to get the tears out. "You know," she sniffed, "you're good at talking."

"Really, I don't know where I get half this stuff." Faye laughed a little and hugged Storm.

* * *

 **I didn't plan for Storm to be good with inspiring people. It just happened, twice now. I don't know if that's even good stuff, but at least I'm trying. But anyway, after this we get back to the real action; the tournament! And oh boy, the fight you're going to see might just be awesome.**


	17. Chapter 17: The Older Children

**Oh boy, this'll be good. A character based off of the crusading knights versus an almost literal werewolf. I hope you're as excited as I am with this.**

* * *

Storm and Faye walked into the sparring room just in time to see the end of a match. Gaia was fighting Reese Chloris, and Gaia seemed to be winning. He hadn't seen Chloris fight much, but he knew that Gaia might have an unfair advantage here.

Chloris was hovering in the air on her board, safely out of Gaia's reach. Gaia only had dual axes as weapons, which could combine into one if need be, so at range she was less than at an advantage. But then again, in his experience, that could change very quickly.

Gaia threw one of her axes, hitting Chloris's hoverboard, and making fall a little. The axe was jammed into the board, and Gaia jumped, grabbed it, and swung herself up and over the board, kicking Chloris off. As Chloris slammed into the ground face first, her aura hit the red zone, ending the match.

Just as Gaia landed on her feet with the hovorboard spiraling down, Mother caught the board and said, "The match is over everyone. And I have to say, that was very impressive."

"Thank you," Gaia said, smiling. "I practiced that for a while."

Storm and Faye found some empty seats next to Azura and Rusti. "What were you guys doing?" Rusti asked.

Storm looked to Faye, and she nodded. Taking that as an approval to tell them, he said, "We were just working some stuff out."

"Oh, like a second date?" Rusti asked. "It's got to turn out better than your first."

"Well, we didn't," Storm admitted. "But I think we will some time, right?"

Storm looked to Faye. "Soon would be good, but if I remember correctly, you are busy tonight." That was right. He was meeting Rayne tonight since last night didn't work out so well. "Perhaps tomorrow morning?"

"That sounds like a good time to talk about this," Storm said.

Meanwhile, Gaia and Chloris left the arena, and Storm's mom clapped her hands together. "Well, we have time, I think, for one last match. Could Taline Ironskin and Redell Sapphire to come down?"

Storm was excited by this development. Of all the people at this school, they were the most ridiculously powerful. Redell, once he started going, was unstoppable. And Taline was just as strong. He tried figuring out who would win, but he just couldn't imagine either of them losing to the other.

They were both dressed for battle. Redell wore his normal gray furs and maroon armor, with a cape, and a wolf-head shaped metal helmet covering almost all of his head except his lower face—which seemed to be unshaven. Taline wore black except for her turquoise vest and belt, and silvery armor in the standard fashion.

Once Redell and Taline entered the arena, Mom made a special announcement. "A rule specifically for this one match: the match is over once someone's aura has been completely drained—not when they enter the red zone." She stepped outside the arena and put the force field up as she noted, "And please, don't kill each other."

Redell drew his sword—which was just a normal sword made of dark gray metal—and Taline assumed a fighting stance. She apparently didn't think the sword at her belt was necessary, which may have been a mistake. Then again, she was very strong; the braces on her forearms could let her generate fire with Dust, and was an excellent fist fighter. Who knew who'd win?

As the match began, Taline threw a series of fireballs at Redell. His armor and aura took the hit, and he charged Taline. He swung his sword; she blocked with one arm, and staggered back. "You're stronger than I thought," Taline said.

Redell chuckled. "That's nice to hear."

"But you're not that strong," Taline said, throwing a huge fireball—which she had been generating with both hands while they'd been talking. It engulfed Redell in blue fire, and he staggered back several feet.

He then ran back at her, and swung again, this time over his head. She blocked with both arms, and then jumped out from under the sword. She then threw a couple fireballs, and while he was reeling from those, she charged him. She delivered a series of quick, strong punches, and then a flaming kick to his chest that sent him back a few steps.

Just from all that, a chunk of his aura was gone. It was a little over a quarter gone. Then it shot right back up as the eyes on his helmet started to glow bright red. "Now you hurt my feelings," Redell said almost passively.

Rusti decided now was a good time to ask Storm a question. "Why are his eyes glowing?"

"Those aren't his eyes," Storm said. "He sees through the nostrils, actually. I have no idea why the eyes glow though—it's weird."

"Okay, but why are they glowing?"

After a moment, Storm realized there was something that was worth mentioning. "Well, when his eyes glow that means… You've heard of those stories about werewolves."

"Yeah."

"Well," Storm said, hesitating, "he kinda does that, in a sense." Rusti's eyes grew very wide. "His strength goes through the roof, and he gets a whole lot faster." His aura also became almost invincible. His intelligence also decreased, relying on instinct most. But still… "I've never seen anybody beat him while he was like this," Storm noted.

Before Rusti could say anything, Redell roared. He then charged and swiped at Taline, which she tried blocking with both arms, but she flew backwards into the force field. As she sat up, it was clear her aura had taken a pounding.

She grabbed her long sword, drawing it. As it was drawn, blue-green energy came from the Dust crystal in the cross guard, and weaved around the silvery blade. Once it was fully drawn, the energy solidified, and formed a turquoise blade much larger than the original.

"Come on now, monster." Dual jets of flame burst beneath Taline's feet, and propelled her at least twenty feet into the air. "Try me."

Redell ran at Taline, though he couldn't get her in the air. Taline swung her sword multiple times and thick ribbons of energy flew at Redell. They all hit Redell, and he wasn't even fazed. He then jumped into the air, at Taline, and swung at her. Taline raised her sword to block almost like a shield. Redell then swatted her out of the air, and she landed on her feet with a thump.

As he was coming down, he was aiming for her. It looked like she was going to block when she ducked out at the last minute, and put her sword away. She'd probably realized that the only way to beat Redell when he was like this was to outlast him.

She was smart in that respect. Redell could only keep this up for so long, and it did put a lot of stress on his body, which was the reason his hair had gone gray prematurely. Assuming that was somewhat foolish though and outlasting him would be exceedingly difficult.

Taline tried keeping her distance, and dodged Redell's attacks, but that plan soon failed. He caught up with her and slammed her into the ground. She'd failed, but Storm was concerned with something else.

Because of the amount of stress it put on him, he usually used it for about a minute—which they had determined didn't cause any long term side effects—if he could help it. He'd now gone for over two minutes, which almost guaranteed something bad.

Just as Redell was about to swing his blade down, assuring Taline's aura going down as well, his helmet's eyes stopped glowing, and he looked disoriented. He was probably trying to assess whether or not Taline's aura was still up, as when he used that form he could make very large errors in judgement. Taline capitalized on this, and drew her sword, slashing Redell across the chest. His aura went down instantly as he staggered back.

Taline got back up, and Storm's mom said, "Taline Ironskin is the winner!" She looked to the board where their aura levels were displayed, and added, "By a thread."  
Redell and Taline shook hands and left the arena.

But that wasn't it from Mom. "Alright, students. While not everyone has gone today, we'll finish up tomorrow, and then start on the next bracket. But for now, everyone have a pleasant evening and good night. Dismissed." Everyone got up, and started filing out.

Rusti turned to Storm and said, "I had no idea you were related to people that powerful."

"Oh yeah," Storm said. "It goes all the way back to my great aunt Locaster."

"Who?"

Storm sighed. "Locaster Sapphire." The name still didn't seem to ring any bells for Rusti. "Her name is synonymous with advanced aural techniques, right up there with all the greats."

"Look, I don't even any of their names," Rusti said. "And I'm pretty sure no one else here has heard them either."

"Well, we'll see." Storm looked to Azura and Faye. "You've heard of her right?"

"No," Azura said simply.

"Not that I can recall," Faye said. "I am very sorry, Storm."

"It's alright." He'd just have to find Crystal. "Hey, does anyone know where Crystal is," he asked his friends.

"I think she went over to team JSPR," Rusti answered.

"Why?" Storm asked.

"I don't know." Rusti shrugged. "It was after the fight between Jasper and Azura." Then he had an odd grin on his face.

After a moment, Storm realized what Rusti was thinking of. Could Crystal possibly be attracted to…? There was only one way to find out, and that meant finding Crystal.

* * *

 **So, the knight won. And yes, Taline's the knight, but that's not the only thing I drew inspiration from. If you're smart, you'll figure it out. A clue is in the origin of her name. Once you have that, you'll have the first clue. But anyway...**


	18. Chapter 18: Who are Your Enemies?

**This might be a stressful chapter for some. You might want to skip, but at the same time, it's kind of important. It's your choice really, so what are you going to do? Anybody else reminded of a Weird Al song right now?**

* * *

Shortly after they left the sparring room, dinner was served in the cafeteria. It was nice; it was mostly breaded chicken, chicken nuggets, and fries. But Faye was not entirely focused on the food.

Memories from her Asylum days plagued her. Memories of Talon, Lorna, Kit, and herself at a younger age, and getting into all sorts of situations that Faye found both nostalgic and regretful. Those memories came to mind because of what she and Storm had done earlier that day. But they were not the only ones.

She kept reliving the moment that Talon shot her. The pain, the sense of betrayal, and even the smell of the air she remembered with perfect clarity. But that was the past, and she could not do a thing about it.

Though she did have to get her the body glove she wore with her armor mended. She had been meaning to have it repaired since she returned, and yet it had always slipped her mind. She would have to take care of it after dinner.

Glancing at the rest of her team and team CCRE, she realized one other thing that needed to be taken care of. Azura's brown leather duster had bloodstains from when she helped carry Faye after she was shot. Why had she not taken care of _that_?

"Um, Azura," Faye said, unsure of how to phrase this.

"Yeah?" Azura replied.

"I think that… you should have your duster cleaned." Azura cocked an eyebrow. "It has bloodstains on it."

"Yeah, it does," Azura said, picking up a chicken nugget.

As Azura bit into the nugget, Faye asked, "So are you going to take it down to Laundry?"

"No," Azura said as she chewed.

"Ugh," Storm groaned. "Weren't you taught not to talk with your mouth full?" Azura scowled at him, and kept eating.

Crystal looked at Azura questioningly. "Why don't you want to have your duster washed?" Crystal asked.

"I don't see the reason of doing it," Azura said.

After a pause, Crystal asked, "Would you care to elaborate?"

"Fine," Azura sighed as she put down a chicken nugget. "We wouldn't wash laundry often in my village, so I don't feel as strong an urge to wash stuff as you. Beside, my dad gave me this, so I don't want it ruined."

"I think the laundry staff knows how to clean leather," Storm noted.

"Right," Azura said. "If you're going to make a fuss over it, I might as well."

"So you will have it washed?" Faye asked.

"Yeah."

"Great," Storm noted.

There was a quiet for some time after that. In that time, Storm and Rayne finished dinner. As soon as both of them did, Storm stood up and said, "Hey, Rayne, time to go."

"Right," Rayne said, and got up.

"See you later, everybody," Storm said. With that, the two of them left to go talk.

Faye wondered what it was like to have a sibling—an actual sibling. She imagined it was something like having a best friend who would never leave you, whether you wanted them to or not. Of course, she could be completely wrong about that.

After finishing her own dinner, she excused herself from the table, and left the cafeteria. She walked with no one, as no one else had finished. She remembered that she needed a new book after finishing the last one, so she went to the library.

She wondered where Lorna was. As good friends as her teammates might be—with the exception of Rusti—, Lorna had been her best friend for years. Of course, since coming to Haven, Lorna no doubt had made new friends. Faye hoped that Lorna still wanted to be around her.

As she was right outside the library, a voice came from behind her. "You know, Faunus," she turned around and saw a tall young man with burnt orange hair and blueish eyes who she did not quite recognize, "your people are real villains."

That angered her. While on another day, she may have run or something such as that, she did not feel like backing down today. "Not every Faunus is like those in the White Fang," she said defiantly.

She thought she remembered him now. He was a new student from Beacon named something like Cardinal or Cardin. She did not remember much about him though.

"No, those at least have decency to tell you they're attacking you." It was strange hearing the White Fang being described as "decent" when they were anything but. "But then you look at how they're taking jobs and being paid less so that some businesses only employ Faunus for those jobs, and being allowed to publish works that make people sympathize with them. No, the only thing worse than a murderer is a liar."

Angry, Faye threw a punch. She forgot her fear, aiming right for his jaw. He stepped out of the way, and grabbed one of her feather.

Pain shot through her skull. She crumbled to the ground and tried releasing his grip on her. It was incredibly painful to have something growing out of her scalp being yanked on.  
Then she remembered a trick her mother taught her. A trick she told her to use with young ones or her father when his mouse was stuck in his hand. She grabbed his hand, and pressed on the center of it. It loosened his grip enough to escape.

She rolled away from him, and assumed a fighting stance. She now remembered her martial arts training from Asylum, and was ready to fight Cardin. She would let him make the first move though.

He charged, grabbed her wrist, and she countered by hitting one of his pressure points. When she hit it though, it did not have the effect she wanted. He'd raised his defensive aura, stopping her from doing anything.

Before she raised her own aura, he kneed her in the stomach, and she fell to the floor. It hurt, and a groan escaped her mouth. "Maybe that'll teach you a lesson, Faunus," he said as he stood over her.

All of a sudden, there was a scream of fury, and Cardin yelped. She looked up to see Lorna pinning Cardin to the wall with her forearm against his neck. Her aura burned with orange flames that everyone could see. Faye smiled lightly; Lorna had come to the rescue.

Then, an arrow whizzed by Lorna's head and hit a nearby wall. Faye looked to the source of the arrow and saw Mrs. Sapphire standing with her longbow drawn at the end or the corridor. At last, an adult with authority. Perhaps she would grant punishment to Cardin.

"Miss Sionn," Mrs. Sapphire said, "please back away from Mister Winchester." Lorna did as she was told, and backed away. Mrs. Sapphire helped Faye up, and after checking if she was alright—and she was, as far as she knew, just in pain, which was fading—she handed out punishment. "Miss Elric, Miss Sionn, you both are temporarily suspended from sparring matches."

Faye was confused, and Lorna was outraged. "Suspended…! We weren't the ones who…"

"Quiet, this is for your own good," Mrs. Sapphire added. Winchester had a smug smile on his face which disappeared when Sapphire looked at him. "And you. If you weren't in the tournament, I'd suspend you as well. But for now, you'll just have to wait for your punishment. And believe me; it'll be far worse than anything you're thinking of."

Faye wondered what that meant. Then Mrs. Sapphire dismissed them all, and they went away.

Lorna was still angry. "I can't believe Mrs. Sapphire didn't do something more severe, like expelling him!"

"I am not sure she has the power to do that," Faye said. "She is only a visiting professor. I am not sure if we even have anyone who can expel students anymore."

Before Lorna could say anything, Mrs. Sapphire's voice came from behind them. "Excuse me, girls." They turned around. It seemed from Sapphire's tone and expression that she was apologetic. "I'm sorry for suspending you both, but I didn't want you trying to kill him in a sparring match." When neither of them accepted that apology, as they were more confused than forgiving, she said, "Despite what you may think, I hate bullies, but I only let him go easily to avoid the sort of unsavory mess that would come up if I did what I wanted to do—which is, at the least, expel him. He'll get his punishment though; I'll see to that."

"What kind of punishment is that?" Lorna asked.

"Well, I'm in charge of the tournament, so I think I'll find something." Faye thought that sounded like abuse of power, but that seemed like a good idea in this case. "You girls just go about your day the rest of your day, and leave it all to me."

As Mrs. Sapphire was about to go, Faye said, "Thank you. I can see where Storm gets his sense of nobility."

"I guess so," Sapphire said with a smile, and left. Winchester would get what was coming to him, she had no doubt.

* * *

Storm and his brother Rayne sat outside on a bench of one of the balconies. The sky was gray that evening, so no sunset was to be seen. It was nice to be outside in the fresh air, whether or not it might rain soon. They hadn't come there though for the view.

It had been too long since they had talked, as brothers. Too much had happened since they last talked, so they needed this.

Storm didn't know where to start. Rayne did though, saying, "So, Ember forgives you for shooting her."

Storm was caught off guard by this. Shortly before the Grimm invasion, he and Ember fought, and during that battle, one of his rounds went through her aura and injured her. It was a painful memory, despite his intentions beforehand. "I'm glad," Storm said, "but why didn't she say it?"

"She still doesn't like you," Rayne said.

He cocked his head. "When did this happen about Ember disliking me?"

"Oh, she's never liked you," Rayne said. "She really didn't like it when you mistook her for a Goth."

"She practically looks the part, okay? And her attitude just enforces this theory." There was a pause, then he asked, "So are you two I thing?"

"Yep." Somehow, he knew it before Rayne even asked. But he was happy for his brother; it wasn't every day Rayne actually got a girlfriend.

"So how far along in the relationship are you?" Rayne was about to answer when Storm stood said, "I'm sorry, but I can't do this."

"What, talk?"

"It's just that you were involved in things that I don't really understand, and I want to know: what happened?"

"I don't remember!" Rayne stood up, angry. "I've told everyone that, and nobody seems to believe it! I don't remember why I did what I did. I don't remember what I did exactly. All I remember is that I don't remember! Got it?"

Storm glared back at Rayne. He fought the urge to push him off the balcony. "Rayne, I have one question: does it involve Cinder?" Cinder Fall—who was related to Ember in a way that he either couldn't remember or didn't know—had gone missing shortly after the battle of Beacon. Her name was also mentioned once by Ember in a context that made him think that Cinder was the reason Rayne and Ember disappeared for weeks.

Rayne shrugged. "I don't know. Honestly, if it did, I wouldn't know it."

Storm quickly realized he wouldn't get any answers. Obviously, someone had wiped his memory of those things. How, he didn't know, but he wasn't going to get any straight answers about that. So he'd ask questions. "So is your relationship with Ember?"

"Great," Rayne said. "So far, it's been wonderful."

After a pause, Storm asked cautiously, "So have you…?"

It took a moment, but Rayne understood what he meant. "No, I'd rather save that for whoever I marry, after I marry them."

"Great, cause mom and dad would have a fit if you did."

Rayne looked suspiciously at Storm. "You wouldn't tell them, would you?"

"No, I wouldn't. My days of being a tattletale ended shortly before my single digit age." Storm then said, grinning, "But I don't think they need me to find out."

Rayne nodded understandingly. "Good point."

After that, they talked about all sorts of things. It didn't matter what it was about to Storm, as long as he could just talk with his brother. With all that had happened, and all that might, he wanted to make sure he knew who it was who had his back—whether it was Rayne or someone else.

* * *

 **The next chapter will be enjoyable for everyone who hates Cardin, if anyone does.**


	19. Chapter 19: A Battle or a War?

**Okay, so people who don't like Cardin may like this chapter, or may not. Just read.**

* * *

Storm was eating his breakfast in the cafeteria with his team and Crystal's when Faye asked something. "Why does your family live in Mistral and Vale?"

Storm shrugged. He assumed she referred to how his Uncle Norbert and Aunt Shay lived in a different Kingdom than his mother, even though they were family. "I don't know, but I do know my mom's from Vale. But as to why she moved, as I said, I don't know. I probably asked her at some point in my life, but I either didn't get an answer or I don't remember it—like why my dad took my mom's name instead of the other way around."

"Ask her," Azura said, pointing to another table. There sat his mother, talking to some gal with forest green hair.

Before he could answer though, a tall guy with brownish/orangeish hair came up to their table. "Well hello there, Faunus," he said to Faye.

Storm seethed with anger. Just from his mocking tone and choice of words, he could tell he was a bully. And judging from his accent and the fact that Storm had never seen him around the school before, he had to be transferred from Beacon. He really didn't like bullies.

The bully looked around. "Where's your foxy friend?" It took Storm a moment to realize he was talking about Lorna, but in that moment he was utterly confused with that sentence.

"She is somewhere here, I think," Faye said.

"I should tell you," Cirocco said to the guy, "I really don't have patience for people who are mean to Faunus, because that causes nothing but Faunus to be mean back."

"Hm. Faunus lover," the bully said.

"I should also tell you I'm a marital artist—third best in my class that had fifteen martial artists—so if you're wondering who would win right here and now, it's me," Cirocco said. "And believe me, I don't exaggerate or lie."

"Yeah, he doesn't," Ember said. "It's actually one of his most annoying traits."

The bully stepped back and said, "Alright, so I won't talk to the Faunus." He looked to Azura. "What's that?"

Azura's gaze narrowed on the bully. "What?"

"Is that a tape player?" He must have been referring to the tape player on Azura's belt—which reminded him that Azura was the only one who wasn't wearing the school uniform at the table. She carried it almost everywhere, and would listen to it when she wasn't expected to listen or talk to people. While Storm didn't know what was on the tapes, he did know that occasionally Azura—despite the fact that she almost never laugh or show emotion—would laugh at them.

Apparently the bully laughed at that. "Is this thirty years ago? Why do you have a tape player?"

"None of your business," Azura spat at him.

The bully was about to say something when Cirocco said, "I wouldn't mess with her. She would probably smash your face into the table if you so much as reached for that player."

"What, you mean like this?" He went for it, and Azura reached for his head. He grabbed her arm though, and pulled away. "Hm. So that's the way it's going to be?"

"Want to die?" Azura asked. "I can do it here." The bully was apparently unnerved by this.

Realizing a possible opportunity to end the encounter, Storm said, "You know, I'm Mrs. Sapphire's son. If you leave my friends alone, I might not ask her to make your next match against Taline."

"Oh really?" he said. "And I'm the son of Lord Taryn." He wasn't at all serious when he said that, Storm could tell.

But of course, Crystal spoke up. "Actually, _I'm_ the closest he has to a son—a daughter."

"That can't be true," the bully said, unbelieving.

"Well, you can ask him next time you see him, or I can show you the Crystal Blades—whichever convinces you."

"Hm. You're no fun." And the bully went off somewhere else.

Shortly after, Gaia showed up. "Was he bothering you guys?" she asked.

"Yes, he was," Cirocco said.

"Hm." Gaia thought for a moment. "I could probably beat him up pretty badly."

"No, we have to do this the right way," Storm said, "or else we're just as bad as him—as horrible and cliché as that sounds. Thanks for the thought though."

"Any time," Gaia said, and walked away. She had been a bully not too long ago. It was only until Storm helped her teammate Netia to realize it was wrong and that there were better ways of proving their superiority than bullying did they stop. Gaia may have felt indebted to Storm in that way, but he wasn't sure about that.

Not long after that, the green haired girl that Storm's mom was talking to came up to the table. "Excuse me," she said. "I'm looking for Storm Sapphire."

Storm raised his hand and said, "Here."

"Well, Storm, your mom wants to talk to you," she said.

That was a little strange, but he would find out what his mom wanted soon enough. "Alright," he said getting up. "Thank you for telling me."

"You're welcome," she said.

Then Storm thought for a moment and said, "Wait, haven't I seen you before?"

"I don't know," she said, then glanced around the table. "Wait I second, I do know you." She pointed at Rusti.

"Me?" Rusti said, nervously.

"Yeah, I think I passed you after Mrs. Sapphire's lecture." She then seemed to finally noticed Crystal. "Hi, Crystal."

"Hello, Sakura," Crystal replied. She turned to Storm and the other. "Meet Sakura Hayashi, member of team JSPR."

"Nice to meet you," Storm said, putting his hand out.

"Yeah, nice to meet you too," Sakura replied, shaking his hand. She said hello to everyone, and then noted, "I have to get back to my team. They're probably wondering where I am." She turned to leave and after a few steps turned back and said, "See ya." She then ran through the cafeteria, vaulting over tables and students, not once hitting anybody or anything.

Storm went to the table his mom was sitting at, and sat opposite her. She seemed to be studying something on her Scroll. She looked up when he came over. "Ah, Storm, it's good to see you," she said.

"Hi, Mom," he replied. "So is there any particular reason why you called me over?"

"Yes. I've run into a bit of a problem choosing the next matchup." She handed him her Scroll, which had a list of names, most of them side by side, with a few exceptions. "I need someone to go up against Cardin Winchester." He tapped on the name, which led to a profile of the student—he was the same person that was bullying them earlier.

"Any particular problems?" Storm asked. He recognized some of the names, and thought that there was an even matchup for Cardin in there. "I think if he goes up against Athena, there would be a good, fifty-fifty chance of victory."

"But I don't want him to have such good odds," she said. "I want him to lose, but make it seem like he can win."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because I want to teach him a lesson in humility," she explained. "He's a bully, which means he should be taught that lesson quickly."

He could barely believe this. The woman who taught him to be noble and virtuous was rigging a match, and asking him to help with it! Fortunately, that wasn't his only education, or else he wouldn't have helped in this most noble cause. "How about Gaia? She seems an even match at first, but she's stronger than Azura, and almost as agile as Cirocco. Those are some friends of mine—or something like friends."

"I know of them," his mom said. "She's that good?"

"Believe me, we've tested this," he noted.

"Well, then this should go well."

* * *

Storm watched as Gaia and Cardin entered the ring. Gaia had her dual axes, Cardin had his mace. They took fighting stances as the force field went up. And then the match began.

Cardin made the first move, swinging his mace in a terrifying arc. Gaia had ample time to prepare for this, so she ducked, allowing the mace to go over her, and then counterattacked. Her axes moved fast, and she made two quick attacks to his torso. His aura took the hit, but it seemed like an attack moving that fast with the amount of force Gaia could put behind it should have made Cardin stagger a little, but it didn't.

After a series of attacks, it was clear that Gaia didn't have enough strength to actually knock him back, which got Storm thinking. If his semblance was to somehow remove the kinetic energy behind attacks that hit his aura, he would be a real menace, and it would explain how he was able to stand against Gaia's attacks. Gaia might have some trouble with this.

Then, faster than before, Cardin swung his mace at Gaia. She barely had time to block, and when she did, he realized something—she didn't move. While an attack like that should have sent her flying, it didn't. As he quickly calculated which one would do more damage, he realized something. Nullifying the kinetic energy behind attacks wasn't Cardin's semblance; it was Gaia's.

Suddenly, it made sense why Cardin didn't move when he should have, and why his aura was running out so quickly. Gaia could put a lot more force behind attacks, as they wouldn't send him back. He also realized that it had to be that while the axes had all the force she put into them, that energy was confined to the axes and not Cardin, making it so that the axes could be as fast and hard hitting as she wanted without that energy directly affecting him. It was all very interesting to Storm, as breaking the laws of physics always got his attention.

Gaia then ran back and put her axes together, making one, large, double-bladed axe. She swung it in a powerful arc, connecting with Cardin and sending him flying at the force field. He got back up and charged. She then jumped into the air and brought her axe down on Cardin, which he tried to block, but instead it completely obliterated the last of his aura, and sliced his mace in two. It was over and Gaia had won.

Cardin staggered back in shock at how his weapon had been destroyed. Gaia turned to him. "Better luck next time," she said smugly, and walked out of the ring as soon as the force field went down.

In a rage, Cardin ran at Gaia, swinging the last of his mace at her. Then, an arrow whizzed by his head, hitting an empty bleacher next to the aisle. It was Storm's mom. "If you're going to be a sore loser, don't try to kill someone," she said. "But it's best not to be a sore loser in the first place." Cardin sneered at them all, and stomped off, pushing past everyone.

That's when Storm realized that Cardin might not be the sort to accept defeat lightly. For all he knew, this could spark off a feud between Cardin and whoever he'll blame—either Gaia or Storm's mom, or both. He hoped beyond anything that Cardin would take this gracefully, and not try to start any trouble. He had to be realistic though—Cardin was most likely going to try to take this out on someone, and he had to be ready to stop him the moment he did.

* * *

 **So yeah, I currently have no plans on what Cardin will do next, but if anyone has any suggestions, go ahead and give me them.**

 **Also, I have a question. I've read enough to know that there are differences in how people of opposite genders write. What each are willing to do in their stories is sometimes different, and by acknowledging I believe that we may grow stronger as a writing community. But that's not even a question. My question is: can you tell what my gender is by how I write? Leave your assumptions (because I don't know if I've ever stated what gender I am) as a review if you want, or to tell me how sexist I am (you all know those differences are there!), it's up to you.  
Also, if you find/found out through my YouTube channel, I'll consider that cheating.**

 **But yeah, have a great day/night.**


	20. Chapter 20: Mysteries to be Solved

**So, after the response from my question last chapter, I've decided not to even ask for reviews. I know I can't get any feedback except maybe for a new follower or a new favorite, which I appreciate enormously. But anyway, have fun reading.**

* * *

As the final match of the day ended, Sun Wukong had beaten Athena Polias. Crystal found it interesting since Athena's strategies were rarely defeated. Everyone was getting up to go when Mrs. Sapphire made an announcement. "The tournament will be paused for tomorrow and Sunday. We'll start back up again on Monday, but until then, have a good weekend everybody."

So the tournament was postponed for until Monday. She couldn't understand why people always took the entire weekend off. During her training, she only had a reduced training schedule on Sunday, and that was it. In fact, she had learned to live with it. What was she going to do during the weekend?

As she was leaving, Jasper came up to her. "Crystal, or Lady Taryn—whichever you prefer…" he started to say.

"Lady Taryn is for Mistral, but Crystal is for my friends," she explained. "I'd like if you were a friend."

"Well, Crystal, do you want to go with me to the dance tomorrow night?"

Crystal wasn't sure how to respond. Only once had she been to a dance like this, and that was in Vale, with Storm who she had known for some time at that point, while Jasper was practically a stranger. Then again, this could be an opportunity to learn more about him, which she wanted to do. She liked Jasper—she didn't know exactly why, but she did—so she told him, "Yes, I would."

"Great," Jasper replied. He increased his pace and noted, "I've got to go do some stuff. It's going to take a while, so you might not see me until the dance. But don't worry, I'll be there."

"Alright."

"Great. See you then." And Jasper was off. She wondered what he was doing, though it was probably related to schoolwork or something like that.

Suddenly, a blur of pink and green came up next to Crystal. The next moment, she could tell it was Sakura completing a front flip. "Hey, Chris," Sakura said.  
Crystal sighed. "Please, don't call me 'Chris'," Crystal replied. Chris was a boy's name, and while she had no doubt that girls could have it too, she really didn't like the sound of her being called that.

"Oh, sorry." Without even a pause, Sakura said, "I wanted to tell you that everyone on my team is taking a liking to you."

Crystal smiled. "Oh, thank you."

"Well, except Peri."

Her smile faded a little. "Oh, okay."

"And Rowan."

"Isn't that half of your team though?" she asked.

"Well at least I like you. And Jasper does too."

Suddenly, a boy tripped in front of them and fell to the floor. Crystal barely stopped, while Sakura jumped over him easily. How did she do that?

She would ask her. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?" Sakura replied as they kept walking out of the sparring room.

"You're very agile, but there's no way you're that good on your own."

Sakura shrugged. "What can I say? I'm just that good. Of course, I was _real_ clumsy when I was little."

"Then you discovered your semblance?"

She shook her head and laughed. "No, that's not my semblance. But believe me; if it was, I would be even better, and I would probably be a gymnast instead."

There was still a question she had. "So how did you go from clumsy to coordinated?"

"It's simple. One day, I was tired of being clumsy, so I stopped being that way, picked up gym class, and started getting better." That didn't seem possible to Crystal. "It's like my parents always say: if you want something, the only person in your way is yourself. Of course, sometimes it's good to get in your own way, but not when you're clumsy." The both of them laughed.

After Crystal stopped, she asked, "So what is your semblance?"

"Oh, you're not getting that out of me so easily," Sakura said, wagging a finger at her.

From behind them, someone shoved past them. From behind they looked like Peri. Why would she shove past them like that? "Peri," Sakura said, "what's wrong?"

Peri turned around, her turquoise eyes flickering from Sakura to Crystal. She thought that she saw pain or something in her eyes. She was also grasping her right arm. It must have been hurt or something. "I'm fine. I'm just going to our room, and I'd prefer it if you didn't come in for a while."

"Why?" Sakura asked.

"Don't ask. Just let me be." She turned around and left very quickly.

Crystal looked to Sakura. "What was that about?" she asked.

Sakura shrugged. "I have no idea."

* * *

Storm was just throwing around ideas in his head for a new weapon when there was a knock at the door. The rhythm and tone of the knocks—three rapid, hard knocks—were different than anyone else's that he'd heard at Haven. He found it interesting that he'd memorized what everyone's knocks sounded like. He answered the door, and he found it even more interesting that it was Jasper Ironwill, who he recognized from the tournament.

"Are you Storm Sapphire?" Jasper asked.

"Yeah," he replied, confused. How did he know his name, and what did he want with him? Both questions he figured would be answered eventually.

"I'm Jasper Ironwill."

"I know who you are," Storm stated. "The question is, how do you know who I am?"

"There was the team forming ceremony," of course, "and Crystal told me about you."

"Crystal?"

"Yeah. The point is I want to ask you a few questions about her." This was interesting. "Do you mind?"

"Okay…" He wasn't sure about Jasper.

"Did you and Crystal date?"

He wasn't sure about the answer to that. "We went to one dance together, we didn't kiss, and I'm not even sure we danced."

"Why?"

"I don't usually dance."

"No, why didn't you kiss her? Was it you or her?"

"It just never came up."

"Well, can you tell me what she's like other than that?"

Storm thought for a moment. "Well, she's nice, considerate, and… forceful."

"Forceful?"

"She wants things to be a certain way. It doesn't usually come up, but if you do something she doesn't want you to, it might get ugly. She also hides her feelings really well. If I couldn't sense emotions, she would be a complete mystery."

Jasper nodded. "Anything I should know about her parents? Would they approve of me?"

"I don't know much about them, so I can't tell you that. I know that her father's Lord Taryn, and her mother's dead."

Jasper seemed surprised or shocked. "I didn't know that about her mother."

"Well, she died a while ago—when she was very little—so I doubt either of us would have remembered it." He felt uncomfortable talking about this. "Is that all?"

"Not quite." Suddenly, a sound came from Jasper's pocket. It sounded like his Scroll's ringtone. Sure enough, Jasper took out his Scroll, and answered a call.

After a brief conversation that Storm tried to ignore as best he could, though he did hear a few phrases. From what he could tell, someone named "Peri" was acting strangely, and that Jasper was going to go to his dorm room soon. He was glad that Jasper was leaving, since their conversation was getting uncomfortable. Finally, Jasper's call ended, he put his Scroll away, and said, "I've gotta be going."

"Okay," Storm replied. "Go then."

"I might be back, but I might not."

"I can live with that."

"Bye." With that Jasper ran rather urgently away. Where was he going? It probably didn't matter. It might have been a personal matter. In any case, Jasper was gone, so Storm didn't need to talk to him anymore—which was all he could ask for.


	21. Chapter 21: The Day of the Dance

**Fun fact, this story started on a Wednesday, and I don't mean when I started writing, but when the story is set.**

* * *

It was Saturday morning, and that meant the laundry had been delivered. Storm retrieved the bundle of clothes tied up in string from next to the door outside, and closed the door behind him. It was mostly uniforms and some other clothes, but there was also Azura's duster. She would be happy to see that.

He set the bundle down on Azura's bed, since it was near the middle of the room. "Azura, you're duster's back," Storm called out, since she was in the bathroom.

It wasn't long before Azura came out, zipping up her flak jacket. Her azure hair—which she was probably named for—was still wet from the shower. She undid the string, and picked the duster out of the other laundry. She immediately put it on.

The brown leather jacket was cleaner than he'd ever seen it. It was still a few sizes too big for her, and was not in the best condition, the laundry staff couldn't have done anything about that. It looked good on her, though she probably didn't wear it for reasons like fashion.

Azura breathed a sigh of relief. She turned to Faye, who was sitting on her bed reading. "Don't ask me to do this again," Azura said to her and Storm.

"I do not think I will," Faye said nervously. Obviously Faye didn't mean to cause any bad feelings, even though it didn't turn out that way.

"I won't make any promises, but I don't think I will," Storm said. He tried not to use absolutes, as those could so often be proven untrue. "Of course, I might if you get more blood stains on it."

Azura gave Storm a look that made him feel uncomfortable. "It'd better be my blood then." He wasn't completely sure what she meant by that, but he assumed that her getting wounded and thus incapacitated was the only way they would get her jacket away from her. That was fair enough, though he could have done without the look.

Changing the subject, Storm asked everyone, "So, who's going to the dance tonight?"

"I would not mind going with you," Faye said. "Though I should tell you that I do not dance."

"Well, neither do I, so…"

Rusti then spoke up. He'd been uncharacteristically quiet until now, so Storm had almost forgotten he was there. "I won't be going. Believe me, I'd like to go, but the chances of running into Fuchsia are too high."

Remembering something, Storm asked, "Hey, how'd it go between Fuchsia and Cirocco anyway?"

Rusti shrugged. "Well, I guess. I think they're just friends though, so I'm still at it." Faye and Azura looked at Rusti oddly—not knowing what he meant by that—but didn't ask him, which was good all things considered. "And Fuchsia actually doesn't want to hurt me—it's just what she says. I just don't want to see her again."

"Okay." Storm turned to Azura. "What about you?"

"No," Azura said simply, and that was all Storm needed.

He then wondered who on team CCRE was going. He knew that probably Rayne and Ember would go, since Rayne actually danced and who knows how Ember would react to that. He wasn't sure about Crystal, though the way Jasper talked to him yesterday, it seemed like she was going with him. And then there was Cirocco. He had no idea if Cirocco would go or not, but he didn't think the odds were favoring him going. He could be wrong, as that tended to happen, but he'd wait and see.

* * *

Crystal entered the cafeteria. It was being used for the dance that night, though she had no idea why they weren't using the ballroom. Most of the tables that usually occupied the cafeteria were gone, except for a few around the walls that were mostly covered with food and punch. The room was lit by multi-colored lights, but other than that it was dark. Loud music with a strange beat played over speakers. This was not the same sort of dance that she was familiar with, but it would at least be a good distraction from all the conspiracy that was going on.

Looking around, she felt overdressed. Most of the students there were in seemingly casual clothes, though they were on the formal side of casual. Crystal had decided to wear an elegant, sleeveless green dress that, while unsuited for a ballroom, she felt was not appropriate there either. She wanted to go back to her room and change, but that seemed extreme. As her mother said once, "A noble is never overdressed; they just get to be fancy whenever they like."

She fought to make this remembrance a good one. Her mother, a noble by marriage, was full of sayings like that, which Crystal now realized that she had to learn herself. She taught some things before her death that Crystal still remembered. She was a wonderful person that Crystal wished wasn't gone.

She searched with her True Sight to find Jasper or one of her friends. While she didn't find Jasper, she did find Storm and Faye. She went over to them, standing far from the edge of the dance floor. "Hello, Storm. Hello, Faye," she said, almost yelling over the music. "How are you two?"

"I think we're okay," Storm said. Faye nodded. "Yeah, we're okay. How are you?"

"Good."

"What?" He must not have heard her over the music. She gave a thumbs-up. "Oh. Great."

"Why aren't you two dancing?" she asked.

"Neither of us dance," Storm said. While some may have had trouble hearing over the music, which she did, her skill to read lips helped negate that somewhat. "So, do you have a date?"

"Yes, but he doesn't seem to be here." She looked around again, and didn't find him. Where was he?

"Well, I hope he shows up."

Looking at the dance floor, she could see a lot of people she recognized. Rayne and Ember were dancing together, as were Gaia and Netia—oddly enough. Netia was shorter than a lot of people at Haven, and Gaia was very tall, which made the two of them together an odd sight to begin with, but she never thought of them as partners—other than in the sense of being partners on a team. In addition to those four, there were quite a few others, and plenty she didn't know.

She saw Sakura dancing on her own, which she found more than a little strange, so she went over to her. "Hello, Sakura," Crystal said.

"Oh. Hey, Crystal," Sakura said, still dancing. "This is great music!"

She thought on her answer for a moment, and said, "I suppose it does have something that someone would like about it."

"Oh, you're just saying that." In a place like this, people only heard what they wanted to hear, she supposed.

Changing the subject, she asked, "Where's Jasper?"

Sakura stopped dancing. "He's at the dorm with Peri. She's been really testy lately, and I don't know why. I don't think it's… you know."

Crystal nodded. "What can you tell me about her?"

"Not much. She's usually really energetic and fun to be around, but I don't know much about her. She really likes gloves for some reason, and that really ugly shade of yellow-green she always wears." She didn't think that color was that bad. "That's really all I know. That and she's incredibly stubborn, and she kicked Rowan and I out of the dorm room. She let us in there to sleep, but she's been hogging the room all day. You'd think she was royalty or something. No offense."

Crystal shrugged. "So she's been there all day."

"Yep."

"How has she been getting meals?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen Jasper much either. He's the only one she'll let in. I don't even know why."

Crystal decided something then. "I'll go and see what I can do."

"I doubt she'll let you in."

"If she doesn't, then I will have at least tried." Besides, she was curious as to why Peri was so antisocial.

Crystal left the dance, and went to dorm 27B—she had gotten the number from Sakura before she left—which was team JSPR's room. She knocked on the door and Jasper opened it. "Crystal, what are you doing here?" Jasper asked.

Thinking it was better to test Jasper, Crystal said, "I thought we were going to the dance together."

"Well, something's come up. I can't go." Jasper seemed nervous almost. "Could you leave?"

That was rude. "What's going on, Jasper?"

"Jasper." Peri's voice came from behind him. "Let her in. She probably sees it anyway." Jasper let Crystal in, and she saw that Peri was sitting up in what looked like her pajamas with a blanket over the right side of her body from the shoulder down. "So can you see my arm?"

"No," Crystal said. "I can only see things if there's enough light and if there isn't something obstructing it."

Peri sighed. "Well you might as well know anyway." She jerked her head at Jasper, and he closed the door. She then removed the blanket from her side, revealing her arm. Her right arm was quite obviously mechanical.

Crystal was shocked, but retained her composure. "How did this happen?" she asked calmly.

Peri hesitated before answering. "It was during my days at Sanctum. I was testing my weapon for the first time when… It didn't hurt as much as you'd think, or maybe it did. All I remember is I was pulling the trigger and then I was in the hospital."

Crystal put a hand on Peri's shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"Spare me your false sympathy," Peri spat at her as she pushed away the hand. "After all this time, I'm tired of false sympathy. I'm tired of people treating me different because of my arm." Peri stood up, grabbed her mechanical shoulder, and pressed something that made a clicking sound. "And I'm tired of this!" She pulled the metal arm off, and threw it onto a bed.

Crystal gaze Peri an intense look. They shared that look for a long time, until finally Crystal said, "If you hate it so much, why keep going? Why not just quit being a Huntress so that you don't need that arm?"

Peri sneered at her. "Don't ask me that. My reasons are my own, but I will never give up the fight—not when I haven't even gotten into it."  
Crystal crossed her arms, satisfied. "Then there's your answer. You'll just have to bare the arm a bit longer."

"But it hurts!" Peri gripped where the arm connected with her torso. A metal rim surrounded the tissue. "I've been growing more lately, and it's been pressing against this. I'll have to get it adjusted, and that means missing out on school."

Crystal shook her head. "There aren't classes right now. You should be fine."

"But… I don't want to be away from my friends."

Jasper interjected. "We'll be fine without you. It's not like we're going into battle any time soon. And don't worry; I'll make sure to write you about what everyone's doing while you're gone." Peri nodded, smiling. "How long do you think it'll be before you're back?"

"It could be a few days or a few months; I don't know." Peri sighed. "But I will be back—you can count on that!"

Jasper grinned. "I'll look forward to it."

Peri turned back to Crystal. "Now that you've convinced me, get out."

Crystal was confused. "What?"

"Get out," Peri said, not particularly angrily or forcefully. "If you want, take Jasper with you. But for now, get out of my room."

"Alright then." Crystal walked to the door. "Jasper?"

"I'll catch up with you," he replied. Crystal nodded.

As she walked out the door and down the hall, she thought about Peri. It felt good to have helped someone else, though at the same time she felt as if Peri didn't need her help. Someone else could have probably done what she did, but she was the one who did it, so that was that.

Though one question stuck in her mind. Clove—Cirocco's older sister—had prosthetics that looked reasonably like flesh on the outside. Why was it that Clove stuff that looked like flesh and Peri didn't? Perhaps Peri wanted it to look metal, or something to that effect, but she would have to ask to know.

With that, she returned to the dance, and was once again assaulted by the music and lights.

* * *

 **Something I learned about this: I don't particularly like longer chapters, but you folks might.**


	22. Chapter 22: Dance if You Want To

**Warning: this chapter may or may not involve under-aged drinking. It also may or may not involve, decapitation, mutilation, and characters swearing like sailors. It has to be one of these things, but the only one that might be allowed under the T rating is the first one, so guess.**

* * *

Storm really didn't know what to do. While everyone else was dancing, he and Faye were on the sidelines, watching. He didn't see anything else to do. He turned to Faye and said loudly so as to be heard over the music, "So, is there anything you want to do?"

Faye turned and shook her head. "Is there anything you want to do?"

While there were definitely a lot of things he wanted to do, all of them involved leaving the dance, so he wouldn't suggest them. "Not really," he said.

It was a while before either of them spoke to each other again. "Do you want to leave?" Storm asked. Faye nodded eagerly. "Let's go." Once they were out of the cafeteria, into the brighter hallway outside, they could hear each other easily again. "So is there anything in particular you wanted to do, or did you just want to leave?"

"There is one thing."

"Name it." Faye hesitated. "Go on," Storm urged.

Before Faye could answer, they were interrupted. "Well, who do we have here?" Storm turned around and saw Cardin Winchester with his team behind him.

"My name is Storm Sapphire."

"Yeah, Mrs. Sapphire's brat," a short team member with a Mohawk said. "And his girlfriend."

"What do we do with them?" a team member with longer blueish hair said. Cardin cracked his knuckles.

Storm sighed and shook his head. "You really want to do this?"

"Yeah, ya wimp," Long Hair said. "How'd you even get into Haven anyway?"

"I could explain it to you, but if you're intent on attacking me, it would just be redundant." Storm shrugged. "So tell me what you want to do so I can answer that."

Cardin threw a punch at Storm, which he dodged and then grabbed Cardin's arm. "Faye, move," Storm said quickly, and she obeyed. Storm then used Cardin's own momentum against him, and flung him over his shoulder. Cardin then slammed to the ground, making a very audible thud. He'd be back up soon.

"Fun fact, I have no formal martial arts training," Storm explained giddily. "Actually, I have no weapons training either. All I know about weapons is from hands-on experience, and a few tips over the years. This has its advantages and disadvantages, but overall it makes for a real interesting fight."

Shorty charged, and Storm dropped to the ground and kicked Shorty in the stomach with both feet. Shorty staggered back with his hands on his gut as Storm got up grasping his back. The stone floor really hurt when he dropped—that wasn't very well thought out. "That hurt," Storm said, referring to both of their pains.

Storm then turned to the other two. "Do you really want to do this?"

It was about time for Cardin to get back up. Storm quickly stepped to the side just as Cardin growled at him. Cardin, who was mid charge, and slammed into his teammates, knocking them over. As Cardin got up he growled, "Let's go."

Cardin and his teammates ran away. Storm sighed. "I detest having to do that." He turned to Faye, who was surprised at the whole thing. "Fighting my fellow man is not why I want to become a Huntsman. But let's go and do something fun. What did you want to do?"

Faye hesitated a little—understandable after a display like that. Finally she said, "I want to… I wish to… Tomorrow, I am visiting my parents. I would like it if I could have a picture of you in case they ask if I... Well."

Storm was more than a little surprised by the request, but he saw no reason why not grant it. "Sure."

"Great." Faye took out her Scroll. "Do you mind standing still for a moment?" Storm nodded. So she was going to take a picture. After Faye took up a good position, she paused and tapped something on her Scroll. "I have it."

"Could I see it?" Faye nodded, and showed him the picture on her Scroll. It was a good picture of him, all things considered. "Great."

"Thank you." She seemed happy to be praised, and to have that picture.

"So what do you want to do now?" Storm asked.

After a moment, Faye said, "How about we return to the dorm. Azura and Rusti must be doing something of interest."

"True. Let's go." So they started walking back to their dorm room.

* * *

Once Jasper came back to the cafeteria, he and Crystal danced in a way she was unaccustomed to. It was fast and frantic, and made her think she needed to stretch beforehand. Oddly enough though, it was rather enjoyable. Afterwards, she said to him, "Father never taught me how to dance like that."

Jasper cocked his head. "Your father taught you to dance?"

She nodded. "Despite all the tutors he got to teach me combat, there were a few things he wanted to teach me himself."

"What else did he teach you?" Jasper asked.

"Well, there's 'if a boy dyes his hair green for no evident reason, he's trying too hard'," Crystal said.

Jasper nodded. "Then I'll strive to keep my hair red for you."

"Thank you very much, Jasper."

Suddenly, Taline came over. She seemed angry, and had a look on her face that made Crystal want to run. Jasper stood his ground though. "Well, Taline, I found my sword," Jasper said. "Now I actually stand a chance in the tournament."

"You shouldn't even be in it," Taline said resolutely. "You shouldn't even be here at Haven."

"It's my choice, Taline; no one else can make it for me, and no one can make me change my mind. That's what it means to be an Ironwill." Crystal actually found Jasper's resolve admirable. He was standing his ground against probably the best student fighter in the school.

"I'll show you that you don't belong here!" Taline said, almost growling. "One on one in the tournament."

"Bring it!"

"Alright then. I'll ask Mrs. Sapphire the next time I see her. Until then…" Taline looked at Crystal. "Stay away from her. She's probably only being around you because you're an 'unsophisticated oddity' that she'll leave as soon you stop being so interesting." Taline turned on her heal, and left.

"Yikes, Taline's real scary when she's angry." Crystal jumped and turned around to see Sakura. She had no idea Sakura was so sneaky.

"I'm used to it, mostly," Jasper said. He turned to face the two of them. "Growing up together, it was either get used to it or run to the north." Crystal wondered what he meant by "growing up together", but she reason that he just meant they grew up in the same community, as they didn't have much of a family resemblance. "So, you want to keep dancing?"

"I think I could use a break," Crystal said. "Let's get some punch."

"Alright."

Once they got to the table, Jasper—like a gentleman—poured two cups for them and a third when Sakura asked for one. After a gulp, Jasper looked funnily at his cup. "This punch tastes funny," he said. Crystal didn't like the sound of that, so didn't drink her punch just yet.

Sakura sipped it, and looked at the other two. "It's spiked," she said simply.

"Spiked?" Crystal asked. She was unfamiliar with the term.

"Someone put alcohol in it," Jasper said, lowering his cup.

"Bottoms up then," Sakura said as she gulped down the contents of her cup.

Crystal stared at her. "That's illegal!"

Sakura shrugged and said, "Yolo." She then took another gulp.

Crystal put her cup down on the table. "I don't want this."

Jasper followed suit. "Only an idiot drinks at our age."

Sakura laughed and raised her cup over her head like a toast. "Guilty as charged."

"That was fast," Crystal observed.

Jasper shook her head. "She's not drunk yet. You just don't know her well enough." Crystal took his word for that.

* * *

 **A hearty huzzah (do I even use that word?) for anyone who thought Storm was going to get mutilated. Also, the easiest way for an author to write a character is to base them off themselves. You might want to guess which character that is, but no matter what you're going to be right and wrong (and no, that's not a typo).**


	23. Chapter 23: Spending Time

**Sorry about no chapters last week. There were issues that have been inexplicably resolved. But now you get a present: a longer chapter in place of two chapters.**

* * *

As a car passed through the street behind her, Faye knocked on the door of her parent's home. It was a little scary to be back this neighborhood, especially since she tried to hide her feathers from them. But she wanted to visit her parents, so she would. Soon enough, her mother answered the door.

Faye's mother had the same blue eyes, and white hair and feathers that she did, and was just as tall as Faye was. She was a bit more tanned though, and Faye believed she got most of her looks from her dad since her mom was prettier. And oddly enough, while individually one could tell their approximate ages, standing next to each other—and it did happen once—they could be mistaken for sisters. But it didn't matter what they looked like; it mattered that this was her mother, which was all.

Mom smiled her warmest smile and said, "Faye." And they hugged. "Oh, it's good to see you."

"It is good to see you as well, Mom," Faye replied.

They drew away and Mom said, "Oh, why don't you ever use contractions?"

Faye looked at her feet. "I don't know."

Her mom drew Faye's face up by her chin and said, "Because you're my Feather." She put her hand on Faye's head. "And don't let anyone take that away from you."

"Well," she said, "I actually decided to go by my middle name from now on."

Her mom shrugged. "What's in a name anyway? Come inside."

As her mom led Faye through the doorway, she left her jacket on a hook in the entrance hall, and went into the kitchen. It was actually a little cleaner than before she left, which she accounted to one less person having to be cooked for. They sat down at the table in the middle of the room, and her mom said, "Your father's recording right now. He won't be out for a while, so that gives us plenty of time to talk just between us. So… anything new?"

Faye told her about how Haven was like, and the people she had met. She told her as much as she could remember about Azura, Rusti, Crystal, Rayne, Ember, Cirocco, and everyone else she had met. She only mentioned Storm a little because she had no idea how to break their relationship to Mom. Eventually she could not think anything else to say.

"It sounds like you've made quite a few friends," her mom said.

Faye sighed. "It certainly sounds like it, but I am unsure about which of them are really my friends." Mom looked interested. "What if some of them are laughing about me behind my back or wondering how much like a gyrfalcon am I."

"If they did, then they wouldn't help you the way you told me they have," her mom told her. "Real friends help you when you need it, and sometimes when you don't, which is what almost every single person you've talked about have done—even that girl Gaia who was bullying you before."

"I suppose you are right," Faye said.

"Hm. I'm a mother and a wife; it's my job to be right, Faye." Her mom had a smile on that told her that she was only kidding a little.

Suddenly, the familiar sound of the door to her dad's recording studio opening, and his footsteps coming up through the hall. His quick voice went ahead of him. "Wynn, I think I need an aspirin. The game I was playing is just so bad it…" He suddenly noticed Faye. "Hi, Feather. How have you been?"

"I have been well, Dad," Faye said.

"And she goes by her middle name now, Silas," her mother noted.

"Huh. So, I finally get my way?" he said, grinning.

Her mother sighed. "Yes, you got your way—about this anyway."

Faye looked confused at the two of them. "What are you talking about?"

"I wanted to name you Faye in the first place, but your mother wouldn't have." His usual fast way of talking slowed as if he was savoring this.

"Feather was the name of my grandmother," Mom explained. "I wanted to keep the name in the family. Besides, you shot down all the other names for being too hard to pronounce."

He shrugged. "Well, at least everything turned out alright." He looked at Faye. "You're lucky that you weren't a boy though. We were actually leaning towards Adam."  
Faye grimaced. That would have made for an awkward time at school, certainly, when there was a terrorist with the same name. "Then I am glad that I am a girl," Faye said.  
Everyone was smiling when Mom asked, "So, do intend on staying for lunch?"

"I hope I can," Faye replied.

"Good. Because I need to get back to work, and I do want to catch up later," Dad said. He turned around and headed back to his studio.

"Aspirin," Mom said.

"Right." And Dad turned back into the kitchen to get a glass of water for the aspirin.

While he was doing that, Faye asked something she had wanted to for some time. "Mom, why did Grandmother Eirlys have white hair in her youth?"

Mom sighed. "Well, we don't know. Your great grandparents couldn't have children so they adopted your grandmother. But we don't know who her original parents were. We know at least one of them was a Faunus, and one of them probably gave her that hair unless it was a mutation of some sort, but we really know nothing about them."

Faye nodded. "Can I ask her about it?"

Mom frowned and shook her head. "I asked all the questions there are to ask years ago. She's become very tired of being asked them." As Faye became disappointed, her mother put a hand on her shoulder. "But that's enough about that. Tell me," she paused to look around—possibly to see if Dad was behind her—and said, "are you seeing anyone?"

Faye was surprised, if anything, but she did answer. "Well, yes."

Now it was her mother's turn to be surprised, though she was happy too. "Well good for you, Faye. Who is it; one of your friends?"

"Storm, actually."

Mom paused for a moment. "Storm… Who's that?"

"I told you about him. Remember?"

After a moment, her mother said, "Oh, now I remember; he's your team leader. I'm sorry, but you barely mentioned him." Faye nodded in admittance. "So what's he like?"  
She told her everything about Storm. It came out with the force a river; once she started talking, she could not stop. Her mother did not say much, though she had an almost proud smile on her face. Eventually she ran out of things to talk about.

It was then that her mother had a question. "So, is he a Gyrfalcon Faunus?" Faye was surprised, so did not immediately respond. Mom decided to interject before Faye could figure out what to say. "If he's not a Gyrfalcon Faunus, I'll understand. I only ask because your father would probably like it if he was, since his family is decidedly Gyrfalcon Faunus."

"He is not," Faye said.

"That's alright with me," she said. "So what sort of Faunus is he then?" Faye grimaced. Mom knew what meant it seemed. "He's not a Faunus is he?" Faye shook her head. "Well… If that's your choice, then there's nothing I can do about it. I don't want to meddle with your life, so I won't."

Faye nodded. "Thank you."

There was a long pause. "So what does he look like?"

Faye took out her scroll, and pulled up Storm's picture. She then showed it to her mother. Mom studied the picture. "I think he needs a shave, but he looks like a nice guy."  
She was glad to have her mother's approval, but was a little concerned about what her father would think. While it was unlikely that he would yell at her, a whisper could be just as damaging as a shout. She did not know what he would do, but she hoped he would take it well.

* * *

Storm looked out the car window, his mind wandering, as he kept his eyes outside the window, focusing on objects on the side of the road to keep him—even if he hadn't been in years—from getting carsick. He was in the passenger seat of his mother's car, and they were going home for lunch.

They'd spent much of the morning together with his father and Rayne. Dad and Rayne had gone home already, since Dad wasn't feeling well, and Rayne didn't like to be out. Storm actually didn't particularly like being around his father anyway.

Now, they were going home. And he had already figured out a little surprise she had in store. "So, Vermont and Tress are waiting for us back home?" he said.

His mom looked surprised. "How did you guess?" she asked.

"When you've known someone for well over a decade and a half, they start to get a little predictable. Besides, you've been smiling for miles."

"Well, I'll strive to be less predictable in the future."

"Please don't."

She laughed, though kept her eyes on the road. Then her expression turned serious. "Your father might be called up for service soon."

Now it was Storm's turn to be surprised. "What? I thought he left the MDF."

She shook her head slightly. "He never did. He was only transferred to the reserve. At least he'll be an officer though."

Storm sighed. As neutral as he was about his dad sometimes, it still scared him to think about him though, to think about him going to fight Grimm or the White Fang. If only it didn't have to be this way, and if only he could be more scared.

As the pulled up into the driveway, Storm turned to his mom. "So Vermont and Tress. I can't wait to my brother again."

As she turned off the car, she gave him a curious look. "What about your sister?"

"Uh, not as much."

"Turkey!"

* * *

Crystal put her napkin down on her plate, and moved her silverware to three o'clock. That had been a nice meal—better than most that she'd had in a while—that she had shared with her father in his penthouse apartment's dining room. She had not had a meal with him like this in some time, and it was as awkward and quiet as she remembered.

Neither of them had talked much, though she had announced that she had found a possible boyfriend. He had said, "That was quick" and not much else. She however continued to tell him about she knew about Jasper, and he found all of it perfectly alright—even the part about him being a southerner. He was taking it rather well.

Right now, as she waited for her father to finish, she looked around the dining room. He had repainted since she'd been here last. Instead of beige color—which she had not particularly like—the walls were now a shade of green that made her feel warm looking at it. She thought that it would be a better shade of paint for the living room or the den, but it was his choice.

This penthouse had been her father's home away from home. While he had trained her at their ancestral home, which they normally lived at, occasionally he had judged that she should come with him to the city. Her times in the city were always under supervision, and thoroughly planned, but she enjoyed them nonetheless. If only she didn't need to live at Haven, then she could live here.

After her father finished, they stood up and left, going through the living room and the entryway out. A servant of some sort would handle the dishes. After they left the apartment, they went into the elevator and started their descent down to the lobby.

It was a long way down from floor 51, though neither of them talked. That was, until floor 43, and her father spoke without directly looking at her. "You know, your mother wasn't a noble." She looked at him, curious. "I met her during a previous Vytal Tournament."

"Was it the one you won?" Crystal asked. She knew that he had won the second Vytal Tournament he was in, as many did. Of course, he didn't particularly like talking about the first one—he lost to a woman with a red Ōdashi.

"It was the first one."

"Oh."

"But I guess it wasn't meant to be. If I had won, I wouldn't have met your mother in the stands. It didn't matter who she was, or where she came from; when I met her, I knew it was her that I would this was the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with." He sighed sadly. "If only I did." He turned to her. "Spend all the time you can with the people you love, no matter who they are, because tomorrow they may not be here, Crystal."

Crystal nodded. "I will."

"Good." And he turned back to the doors.

Crystal was about to ask how her mother died, but then the doors opened, and they walked out. They went out the lobby to a car—not a particularly expensive car—and were let in the back by the driver. Before Crystal could ask about it, her father said, "These are dangerous times to be a noble, Crystal. The White Fang will kill anyone with an ounce of notoriety just to prove they can, so we must travel in a vehicle they will not suspect."

"Of course," she said. Soon after the driver started up the car, Crystal asked, "Where are we going?"

"The army offices. General Irving—you remember him from the party last spring, in his honor," of course she did, "told me that he suspects a White Fang attack soon, though he needs a representative of the council to do anything about it."

She was surprised. "Where? When?"

"I don't know either, but soon. Very soon."

They spent a while in silence. In that time, they got onto the highway. Then, as they were parallel with a blue car, the blue car's back left window rolled down and a man with a Grimm mask pointed a rifle at their car.

* * *

 **Wasn't this dramatic? First it's just our three leads spending time with their parents, and that happens. The next chapter should prove interesting.**


	24. Chapter 24: The Attack

**So you've returned. Couldn't bare to wonder what happened next, huh? Well, here it is in all its glory/awfulness (whichever it is).**

* * *

Storm was looking out the car window at a bus when he saw a familiar face: Faye, who was looking from the aisle to the window. She must have seen him out of the corner of her eye, or sensed someone watching her, because she turned to look at him. They couldn't speak to each other, and it would be rather silly to call her—especially since he didn't actually know the number on her Scroll—, so just stared at each other and waved.

His mom must have snatched a quick glance at them because she said, "Is that that girl Faye?"

He quickly turned to her, said, "Yeah," and he turned back.

He could sense his mom's amusement. "So, are you two…? Oh no."

Storm turned to look at her, but stopped midway as he saw and heard what had troubled her. Gunfire. Gunfire from one of the cars—a blue one—to another one that was green. What was going on?

* * *

Crystal ducked at just the right time, and drew the Crystal Blades. She didn't go anywhere outside the school without them, but made sure she didn't let everyone know that. She smashed the swords against the back of the front seat, and raised it to bear as she formed it into a spear. The spear pierced the White Fang thug's rifle in the car across from them, making it unusable. That was good.

Next to her, her father said, "Cover your ears."

She didn't question him; she pulled her spear back in and put her hands on her ears. But even that didn't stop her from hearing the sound of her father's pistol firing. She saw with her semblance the round going through the thug's mask into his head, killing him instantly. It was awful to see, but what if he had gotten another gun and shot at them. It was better this way, it seemed.

The White Fang car sped up and smashed into them. Crystal tried to keep herself from smashing her head into something as the car spun out. The car tipped over and landed on its side. She managed to keep her head intact, but she'd definitely develop bruises soon enough.

She checked on everyone else. Her father was alright, but the driver out cold—or possibly dead. Her father turned to her and said, "We need to get out of here."

He tried opening his door—the one that wasn't facing the ground—but it wouldn't budge. Then, she heard someone climbing on the car. She used her semblance to see who it was, and saw Mrs. Sapphire with her long bow over her shoulder. She managed to open the door, and looked in. "If you got out of half the scrapes you got into by yourself," she smiled, "I'd be disappointed."

"Well, at least you tend to be around when I can't," Dad said, and climbed out of the car. Crystal followed him, remembering to bring the Crystal Blades with her.

As they were getting out, cars were stopping all over the road. It took her a moment to realize some of them had White Fang thugs climbing out. They would have to fight their way out of this one.

Thugs fired on them, and her father and Mrs. Sapphire fired back. She charged though, managing to dodge most of their shots.

She was running towards a thug taking cover behind a car. When she got to it, she vaulted over it, and swung her swords at him. He barely managed to dodge, and then drew his sword. While he may have been good, he wasn't that good. She blocked a swing from him, and attacked with her other blade. He kicked her in the stomach before she could complete the attack, though she did hit his mask.

The mask shattered, and Crystal saw the thug's face. He wasn't that old—maybe as old as she was—and his eyes were a vibrant green like hers. He was snarling with his mouth, showing his pronounced canine teeth. She wondered if he was some kind of dog or something. He wasn't that menacing actually.

The thug swung his sword, and what she did in response was pure reflex. She blocked with one blade, and attacked with the other. His aura obviously hadn't been unlocked, since her blade easily cut through his armor and flesh. He dropped his sword, and crumpled to the ground.

She saw him on the ground. She saw the dark red blood slowly dripping off her translucent green cutlass. She saw him pale as his blood drained out to darken his clothes and begin to form a small pool around him. She saw what she had done—she had killed a human being.

She was horrified at herself. It didn't matter to her if Faunus were sometimes considered subhuman, not at this moment. A soul had passed from this world, and she had been the one to send it away.

She would have wept if another thug hadn't attacked her. She did not have time to mourn for anyone at that moment. Right at that moment, she needed to fight, and nothing would stop her from protecting her life, her father's life, and the life of anyone else the White Fang threatened. She would have to deal with her crime later.

* * *

Storm's locker flew through the sky towards the overpass. It had a companion though—Faye's locker. Those two lockers held their weapons, and they needed them if they were going to survive.

As they landed with a crash, Storm and Faye ran over to them. Storm opened his to find his weapons: Excelsior, his sword/rifle; Typhoon, his shield/mini-gun; Peregrine, a pair of arm-blades that would combine into a bow; and Titan, his powered armor. He didn't have time to put on the full suit, but he'd just wear the partial armor he usually did. Once he had his weapons, and Faye had hers, they were ready to fight.

Faye took off with her wings, flying low as not to attract too much attention. Storm followed her on the ground, and charged.

Storm encountered a White Fang thug who tried to hit him with the butt of his rifle. He dodged and hit him across the jaw with Excelsior's pommel, following it up with a kick to the gut that sent the thug flying for a few feet. He had a partner with a sword though, and when she tried to slash Storm, he blocked it with his shield, kicked her legs out from under her, and slammed her in the spine with the shield. The White Fang was probably no match for him.

Meanwhile, it seemed that Faye had landed, and had made short work of the thugs. Her wings turned into dual, five foot long swords, that while not as sharp as some weapons, packed a wallop. She moved with large arcs, following one blow up with another, and while she may have telegraphed her moves sometimes, they couldn't stand up against them. She also seemed to take the same less-lethal approach to this fight that he was—interesting.

Suddenly, he heard a gunshot, and turned to look to the source. An old instinct—wanting to know the source of a loud noise—which had little place here, though it did come in handy. An axe that looked part shotgun was flying right at him. He barely had time to raise his shield to block. When it hit, he was almost knocked over.

He lowered his shield to see a man with a Grimm mask and another shotgun-axe charging him. He didn't have the garb of a normal thug, so he had to be a specialist or a commander of some kind. Storm ran to meet him. Storm slid like a baseball player the rest of the way, kicking out the specialist's legs. The man fell over, landed on Storm, who then pushed him off of him, and prepared to hit him again with his shield. The man then punched him in the face, and while his aura did protect him, he was still knocked over. This would not be as easy as he thought it would be.

Storm rolled and then stood as his opponent got up as well, and started to size him up. This man was taller than Storm by at least a full head, very muscular, and had minor armor. His vambraces had a pair of claws sticking out of them that look like they'd make a punch hurt even more. And strangely enough, he had black hair with a green streak, along with a pair of round animal-like ears on top of his head. He wondered who this was, but he probably wouldn't get to know.

"You're good, but you won't beat me," the man said, gesturing with his axe. "I've never lost a real fight."

"Well, I can't lose then," Storm replied. "I've lost before, and learned from those defeats."

"I said a real fight," his opponent corrected. "I've sparred even more than you have, student."

"Let's see about that."

Storm waited for his opponent to make the first move. When he did, he swung his axe in an arc, propelled by a gunshot. Storm black and was almost knocked over by the attack, but stood his ground. He then kicked his opponent in the gut—which was unarmored, other than his aura—and used one of the thrusters attached to his greaves to propel him away from his opponent.

Storm then shifted Typhoon from shield to mini-gun, and fired at him. His opponent fled behind a car, safe for now from the mini-gun. Storm activated his thrusters, hovering just above the ground, and flew around his opponent's cover, and started firing Typhoon again. He was greeted by a shotgun blast, and his opponent running off again.

Storm landed on top of a car and turned Typhoon back into a shield. He was worried that if he did this for every White Fang, he'd run out of ammo and power. He couldn't keep pursuing him like that, so he decided to turn Excelsior into a rifle, and took aim.

His opponent ran behind a car on its side, where he couldn't get him. He decided that instead of running towards his enemy, he'd flush him out. He calculated the exact way he'd need to throw his shield for it to ricochet to hit his opponent from behind cover to knock him out of it, and for his shield to either come back to him or for it to be in a safe place for him to recover it. It was dizzying, but worth it.

Once he was done with that, he made his move. He threw his shield at the exact right angle, ricocheting perfectly behind the car. It knocked him out from cover, and into the open where Storm fired several rounds at him until his defensive aura went down.

"Surrender!" Storm shouted. He didn't want to kill if he didn't have to.

His opponent slowly put his hands behind his head. From where Storm was standing, his opponent seemed angry, bitter, and not at all fearful. He wasn't going to show his fear in the face of an enemy—admirable. He was just glad his opponent surrendered.

As he caught his shield, a pair of dropships came down and started hovering parallel to the overpass. They were marked with the symbols of the MDF—the Mistral Defense Force. Out from them came uniformed MDF soldiers carrying rifles in their arms and swords at their belts. They shot down all of the remaining White Fang thugs.

As he was distracted by them, it seemed his prisoner decided to make a break for it. He was about to shoot him in the leg when it seemed a soldier decided to shoot him instead—in the torso. Storm panicked and considered running to him to see if he could do anything when he realized someone else needed his help—Faye.

Faye was a Faunus, and while she didn't wear a mask, he didn't want to take any chances. The soldiers could easily mistake her for a member of the White Fang, and if they did that… He had to find her.

He quickly searched for Faye from his vantage point, and found her battling a nearby thug. She just finished when a pair of soldiers started running over to her. Storm ran over to her, putting his weapons away. He had to get to her before the soldiers did.

He just got to her as the soldiers did. She didn't look like she was going to fight them. In fact, she looked scared. "Hold your fire," he said, standing next to Faye. One of the soldiers made a motion with his hand to the other, and while they didn't lower their rifles, they didn't fire either. Good.

His heart pounded. He had one chance to convince these soldiers that Faye wasn't a member of the White Fang. He would have to be pretty convincing or else he might be shot too for protecting a terrorist like this.

"This is Feather Faye Elric—registered student at Haven Academy. She is not, nor has she ever been a member of the White Fang. I vouch for her myself, as fellow student Storm Sapphire."

There was a long pause before the soldiers finally lowered their rifles. The soldiers then arresting the thug Faye had been fighting, and moved on. Storm turned to Faye and said, "That was close."

* * *

 **Yeah, terrorists; not okay, especially when they might discredit others of similar background. But anyway, I predict that the next few chapters are going to be both very serious and absolutely ridiculous. If you don't know what I mean by that, come back Monday and you'll be pleasantly surprised.**


	25. Chapter 25: The Library

**This chapter includes a character that's quickly becoming one of my favorites. Don't worry, I won't overuse her. It's just fun to write for her, that's all. But anyway, enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

Crystal walked through the academy library, trying to clear her head. For some reason, the library always helped when she was like this, though not the way it did for others. She came here to get lost between the mahogany bookcases, and then have to focus so much on getting out again that she would forget her problems. She didn't know if it would work this time though.

She'd killed someone. While he probably deserved it, she'd sent a soul to the afterlife; she needed some time to process this. To her knowledge, no one she knew had killed anyone—except her father, and maybe Azura, but probably not—so she couldn't talk to her friends about it. All she could do was try to forget.

As she rounded the corner, she came across the oddest sight she'd seen in a while. Sakura was doing a one-handed handstand on a study table while both reading one book, and balancing four stacks of books on her feet and her thighs—which was made easier by her bending her legs like she was sitting in a chair of some sort. Crystal almost laughed at the sight, but was more concerned. "Are you okay?" Crystal asked.

"Yeah," Sakura said as if she wasn't strained by that at all. She looked concerned at Crystal. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I guess," Crystal replied, trying not to sound depressed. "Why are you doing that?"

"I always read like this."

She cocked her head. "With stacks of books on your legs?"

"No that was a dare," Sakura said laughingly. "Some guy named Cardin saw me reading upside down, and dared me to balance these books like this."

Crystal looked around, and she didn't see Cardin anywhere. "For how long?" she asked.

"About five minutes," Sakura said. "I'm just doing it now cause it's good training."

"Training?"

"Yeah. If a Hayashi wants to do something, we put everything fiber of our being into it for however long it takes—or close enough." She turned a page of her book, and said, "That means if we want to balance radishes on our head for a living—you can do that; I know because my aunt used to do it for six years—we balance radishes on our heads constantly. So, since I want to become a Huntress, I make sure my body's in peak condition. That and I read better when I'm upside-down."

"That's… strange."

Sakura shook her head. "That's nothing. One of my sisters reads her books upside-down."

Crystal was confused. "Isn't that what you're doing?"

"No, silly." That was rude. "I mean she turns her books upside-down and reads them. She's a weird one, alright."

Crystal looked at her and the stacks of books on her legs again. "It must run in the family," she commented.

"Thank you," Sakura said, genuinely smiling.

Crystal pulled up a chair from the study table and sat down. "Sakura, do you know what an insult is?"

"Yeah."

Crystal paused. "Is there any way _to_ insult you?"

Sakura grinned. "Not one way. You can call me whatever you like—I always look at the upside to whatever they think is an insult. It's never the thought that counts with me."  
Crystal looked curiously at her. "Is there any way to get you down?"

"Well, probably, but I don't know it." Sakura placed her book, pages down, on the table and scanned Crystal's face. "Something got you down though. Spill it."

Crystal didn't want to talk about this with Sakura. She was… It seemed like she never took anything seriously except her training. She was weird, and she didn't seem like the most sensitive person either. Then again, maybe a cold splash of insensitivity might help. "During the battle," she began, "I killed someone—a member of the White Fang."

"Okay," Sakura said.

Crystal had a hard time putting this into words. "I've killed a human being. A Faunus, yes, and a White Fang thug, but a human all the same. So… how do I deal with the fact I sent a soul into the afterlife, if it even exists?"

"Cramp." Crystal cocked an eyebrow. "My legs are cramping up. Could you…?"

Crystal nodded urgently. "Yeah." She quickly removed the stacks of books from Sakura's legs—though she had to stand on a chair to get the ones off of her feet—and set them down on the table. "Is that better?"

Sakura stretched her legs out straight, sighing with relief. She proceeded to do a full split, and then straightened back out again. It honestly didn't surprise Crystal that Sakura was that flexible. "Much better," Sakura said. "Now what were you saying about killing someone?"

Crystal sighed heavily. "I killed someone and I feel guilty," she said, frustrated. "Do you have any advice?"

Sakura thought for a moment. "Well, I see two options for you: either you can feel sorry for yourself for the rest of your life, or you can buck up and get over it. The world doesn't need any more wishy-washy Huntsmen and Huntresses than it does already—maybe even less."

Crystal frowned. She was angry at Sakura for trivializing her guilt, but at least she wasn't feeling guilty. She had one thing to say to her though. "Remind me never to go to you for advice," Crystal said, glaring at her.

"Will do," Sakura said, picking her book back up again.

As Crystal got up and turned around to leave she saw Rowan walking up with a book under his arm. "So, it's the noble again," Rowan said, sitting down at the study table. "What do you want—taxes?"

Crystal sighed. "So that's why you don't like me; because I'm a noble?"

"Because I know your weapons aren't Dust," Rowan corrected. "I know what they really are, Taryn, and you should be ashamed to flaunt magic like that."

Sakura's eyes grew wide. "Crystal's a magical girl?" she said excitedly.

Crystal looked questioningly at Sakura. "What's a magical girl?"

Rowan sighed. "You read too many comics, Sakura."

Sakura then said in a sing-song voice, "Crys-tal's a magical girl."

"She's not a magical girl you… cherry tree."

Sakura, grinning ear to ear said, "You're just saying that."

Rowan sighed, and then did something really immature. He swiped her arm out from under her, making her fall slightly, but Sakura saved it. She dropped her book, and started holding herself up by her other hand. Before her book hit the ground, she somehow managed to catch it with the hand that Rowan had pushed away, and then slapped him with it. "You know Cardin tried doing that," Sakura said, actually not bubbling with excitement. "I didn't slap him though. And you know this is good practice I think."

Rowan nodded. "Very situational, but good training. Like how you threw Dust crystals at me from random angles last week."

Crystal cocked an eyebrow. "Why did you throw Dust crystals at him?"

"Oh, well…" Sakura said hesitantly.

"It has something to do with my semblance, and we'll leave it at that," Rowan said. "We usually don't talk about our semblances on team JSPR. Jasper was just showing off when he told you his."

Crystal crossed her arms. "So you all know each other's semblance, but won't tell anyone them."

"That's the general idea," Rowan said.

From what she knew of their semblances, she couldn't figure out what they were. Sakura's had nothing to do with her agility, and Rowan's had something to do with Dust. Of course, she had no idea what Peri's was, which reminded her of something.

"How is Peri doing?" Crystal asked.

Sakura frowned—an expression that seemed unnatural on her. "She left this morning."

Rowan pointed a thumb at Sakura. "She cried." Sakura stuck her tongue out at Rowan while closing her eyes. "Anyway, she's only on a medical sabbatical. Once she's over it, she'll come back. Of course, she never said when she was coming back, so…"

"This nonsense about medical stuff is ridiculous," Sakura said. "She's not sick, and she hasn't gotten hit that bad in sparring lately, so why is she going?"

Obviously they didn't know about Peri's mechanical arm, so she wouldn't be the one to tell them. It was Peri's secret to keep or tell at her own discloser; Crystal wouldn't be one to tell them if Peri didn't want her to. Of course, she'd have to reassure them somehow. "I'm sure, whatever it is, Peri will be better before long," Crystal said. "In the meantime, why be so sad? I'm sure she wouldn't want you to be this gloomy on her account."

"You don't know Peri," Rowan said. "She lives to feel the pain of others."

Crystal was about to ask what he meant by that when Sakura said to Rowan, "Do you remember that one prank she pulled on us during the second month—the Grimm invasion one?"

"Yeah," Rowan said regretfully. When Rowan saw Crystal's curiosity, he explained, "You see, one day, she bursts into our room and shuts the door behind her. Her right arm's missing and the stump's covered in blood. She then proceeds to ask what we're doing sitting around when there's a Grimm invasion out there. So then we run out there—Jasper actually jumps out a window—ready to fight an onslaught of Grimm, when we find no Grimm and no one there to fight them."

Sakura cracked up. "That was a pretty good one, you have to admit," she said. "I don't even know how she pulled off that one armed thing." Crystal knew, but she didn't need to tell them.

"Well, after Beacon, she promised never to do that again," Rowan said. "But that didn't stop her from setting water buckets up on top of doors during the night and watching as everyone doused themselves."

Crystal was shocked. "That was her?" she asked.

"Yep," Sakura said, a little strained.

Crystal considered that information for a moment, and said, "I'm going to have a talk with her when she gets back."

"Yeah, well," Sakura said, getting down from her handstand. "I think she got what she deserved a while ago."

Crystal looked questioningly at Sakura, and Rowan said, "She accidentally stepped through a door she'd up like that, and got herself soaked."

Crystal smiled. "Then perhaps I won't bring it up when she gets back."

"Well, if you like, you can find a clever way to get back at her?" Sakura suggested.

Crystal sighed. "No, I don't think so. Pranks are for those who can't wait for the spontaneity of life to deliver them a joke."

As Sakura settled into a chair, shaking her head to clear it, she said, "Suit yourself, but we're still planning a way to get back at her for that."

Crystal nodded in acknowledgement. "Well good luck with that and farewell."

"See ya," Sakura said.

"Goodbye," Rowan added.

Crystal left with a clear and un-guilt-ridden head. Life had so much to offer everyone, not matter who they were, and she would make sure as many people as she could would get to experience that. If it was demanded of her to kill someone, she might, but until that day, she would save as many people as she could. That, perhaps, was what a Huntress—what a Taryn even—did.

* * *

 **You might notice there's no second chapter today. Well, that's because this is the last chapter I finished. I'm still working on more, it's just that it's finally caught up with me. The only reason I didn't write more during the time I wasn't posting was because I was working on a side project that I may or may not be posting. Don't worry, I'm writing more of Haven, and I'm going to try to get back to the original schedule soon enough, but for now I don't think you really need two chapters today.  
**

 **Also, there's someone on here that really inspired me, particularly that I could write Haven. I won't tell you what who it is, or which one of his works inspired me to do it, but if you can guess, that's fantastic. One thing that inspired me greatly about that fanfiction was that I didn't need to have students be from Beacon. Anyway, have a great week.**


	26. Chapter 26: Someone You Know

**Sorry for not posting yesterday, but I honestly forgot.**

* * *

Storm was cleaning his sword in his dorm. Faye was sitting on her bed, reading something on her Scroll. Rain came down on the windows—it started not long after the attack. That's when Faye did something unexpected.

She lowered her Scroll and tossed the Scroll to the foot of the bed. She hung her head, and Storm asked, "What is it?"

She looked at Faye, shock in her eyes. "One of my classmates from Asylum was in that battle on the highway," she said. "And he's dead."

That was pretty bad. If he had to fight someone else he knew in battle, he assumed it'd be rough. Out of curiosity he asked, "Who was he? What was his name?"

"His name was Espen Voll," she answered hesitantly. "And while I did not know him personally, I saw him. I knew things about him—gossip and the like—which I think are true. He had a girlfriend outside of Asylum named Auberon, and liked blueberry pie."

Storm had a suspicion. He had fought someone who clearly had professional training, and had died when the soldiers showed up. What if the man he'd fought in battle was Espen? He'd have to ask. "What did he look like?"

Faye seemed a little bewildered by the unusual question, but replied, "Tall, dark hair with a stripe of green in at, dark eyes, and bear ears. He also had the roundest cheeks I have ever seen."

Storm breathed in regretfully. Faye cocked an eyebrow. As much as most people were slower than him, two people he'd learned never to underestimate were Crystal and Faye—especially Faye's perceptibility. He wouldn't insult her by not answering, so, "I fought someone I think might have been Espen."

Faye frowned and lowered her head. "Did he have dual shotgun axes?" He nodded and then Faye sighed. "Did you kill him quickly?"

Storm was surprised to say the least. "I didn't kill him! It was the soldiers!"

"I believe you," Faye said. There was a long pause before either of them spoke again. The silence made Storm uncomfortable because he felt like Faye was judging him somehow. Finally, she spoke. "He made his choice; I wish he had not made it though."

Azura came then, saw Faye and Storm, and ignored them. "Hello, Azura," Storm said.

Azura nodded in acknowledgement. She took her jacket off and hung it up on the edge of the dresser by the far side of the wall. She then took his pistol—Standoff—out and a rag, and started cleaning it on her bed. If she wasn't going to talk, then they might ignore her.

Storm looked at Faye. "You know, the White Fang could change again. They were peaceful one; they might be again."

"Idealism," Azura said. Storm looked at Azura questioningly. "That's the word, right?"

"What are you talking about, Azura?" Storm asked.

Azura didn't stop cleaning Standoff. "Stop idealizing them and fight them. Even if they do change someday, today they're your enemy. Accept it and move on."

Faye glared at Azura. "I can't," she said angrily, and then stomped off through the door.

Storm was shocked at the whole thing. First, that Faye could get that angry. Another thing was that Faye used a contraction. He never quite knew why Faye didn't use contractions, but she used it there. He was more concerned though about Faye being angry. He could guess why, but to see her angry… He had to go after her.

* * *

Faye ran down the hall, tears streaming down her face. She was using Rayne's semblance of invisibility to pass through the halls practically unseen. While she would occasionally bump into someone, they would not know who it was. She finally made it out to a balcony. That's where she became visible again and stopped.

It was dark that night, with no streetlights around for illumination. The days were getting shorter and colder as it got closer to winter. It rained so heavily that it seemed that someone was emptying a bucket over Haven. She shivered terribly, but she couldn't tell if that was the cold or that she was trembling with emotion.

Rain was the perfect cover for tears, though she did not care about that. While cold and wet, she could take that. She wanted to be alone, and this was the only place she could be.

Azura, whom she considered something like a friend, had hurt her feelings. While she might not have intended that, it did not change the fact that someone had callously chosen to think that every member of the White Fang was a mindless, soulless, monster. She had known some of these "monsters". She was friends with some of those "monsters". She shared blood with these "monsters". No one had the right to assume they were all evil—or were always evil.

She heard someone running up behind her. Storm's voice came from behind her. "Faye, are you alri…?"

"Go away," Faye said, sobbing.

He was silent.

After a moment, she heard footsteps come even closer to her. Storm put a hand on her shoulder. She whipped around, grabbed his wrist and said, "GO AWAY, STOR…!"  
She saw, not Storm, but Lorna. Lorna, the foxlike Faunus, who had been her friend for years. She held an umbrella over both of them, looking down at her. She let go of her wrist, and grabbed onto her legs, hanging her head and crying. Lorna knelt down and ran her fingers through Faye's white hair. "It's alright, Faye," Lorna said comfortingly. "It's alright."

"They… They killed…"

"I know, Faye. They killed Espen."

Faye looked up. "That could have been you," she said. "That could have been me."

Lorna hugged Faye. Faye put her head on her shoulder. "It could never have been you. You'd never join the White Fang. Not now, not ever."

"It could've been Talon." Lorna was quiet. "You know it could have. You know it."

"Faye, Talon… You know what Talon said to me once?" Faye made a questioning sound, unable to speak. "He told me, 'Faye'," Lorna's impression of Talon's grumbly voice was uncanny, "'is like a little sister, but she worries too much. She doesn't realize I can get out of any trouble I get into.' Of course, I had to ask about the butcher's shop, and you know what he said?"

"What?" she asked.

"That he was just waiting for us." Faye smiled slightly. "Talon can look after himself, don't worry. And if he can't, then he'll ask for our help."

"And what if he can't ask?"

Lorna lifted Faye's head up to look into her eyes. "If he can't, then he doesn't need to. Now let's get out of the rain before you catch a cold."

Faye nodded, and stood up. Her uniform was heavy from soaking up so much rain. She and Lorna walked back into Haven where Storm was waiting. He looked worried. "I am alright, Storm," she said, trying to wipe her eyes with a wet sleeve before Lorna offered her own. "No need to worry."

"Can't help it," Storm said shrugging. "I worry about everyone." Faye gave him a smile, and kept walking back to the dorm.

Old memories started to stir, and she turned to Lorna. "Do you remember what you said when I got taller than you?" she asked.

"Oh yeah," Lorna said, smiling. Faye remembered the words well herself. "I knew birds are supposed to soar, but I expected you to leave the ground first." It was not the most PC joke, but she felt proud at the time to be growing up.

If she knew that growing up meant all this, then she would have done everything in her power to stay short. But there was no going back now; she would have to face whatever the future brought, a hope she could withstand it.

* * *

 **In case you thought I was done with melodramatic scenes and crying people, no I'm not. I mostly am, but I saw an opportunity when I was creating a character for Storm to fight in the attack.**


	27. Chapter 27: Conflicting Ideas

**I've decided to stop putting notes at the start and end of a chapter unless I actually have something valuable to say. That being said, enjoy.**

* * *

Crystal was done eating breakfast in the cafeteria when she saw Jasper. Today, Monday, was the day Jasper and Taline were to fight. She deplored this fight, and everything about it. It was born of childishness and pride, and she didn't even know why they hated each other so much. She stood up and went to stop him, arms crossed. "So, you're still going through with this duel?" Crystal asked.

Jasper nodded. "I talked to Mrs. Sapphire, and we're going to fight. Just Taline and me."

Crystal shook her head. "You need to grow up, Jasper, and give up this pointless feud."

Jasper sighed. "You don't know a thing about what's going on, do you?" Crystal frowned. A Taryn always knew exactly what was going on, especially her. It frustrated her that Jasper would implicate otherwise. "Don't worry; you'll learn eventually."

Jasper walked around her and she followed him out of the cafeteria. She was still angry with him. "You need to learn!"

"Crystal, southerner customs are different from the customs of other peoples," Jasper said. He looked at her mischievously. "That should be enough for a bright girl like you to figure it out."

Crystal sneered at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Jasper sighed. "Everything's right in front of you to guess, but if you can't, then you're not as clever as I thought."

Crystal was left fuming as Jasper walked away. Was every boy going to this frustrating or just him?

* * *

Mrs. Sapphire raised the force field around the arena as Jasper and Taline walked to the center. Crystal still hated this, but she considered Jasper's words. There had to be some southerner custom that she didn't know about necessitating this duel. They were a bit more primitive than Old Mistral, since they had only become part of the kingdom after the Great War. She'd respect Jasper's wishes, even if she didn't like it.

The duelists bowed to each other, and assumed fighting stances. They had their swords at their belts, undrawn. It seemed they were going to fight without their weapons for now.

Taline threw the first fiery punch, which Jasper blocked. She then delivered a flaming kick, which Jasper also blocked. "You're getting predictable, Taline," Jasper said.

Taline frowned, breathed in deeply, and spat a fireball in his face. He staggered back and Taline took advantage of this by throwing another fireball at him. She grinned and said, "How's that for predictable?"

Jasper laughed. Was he even taking this seriously?

He then rushed Taline and started wrestling her. It was strength against strength, and Taline was older and stronger. Something she noticed is that they were both comfortable with wrestling each other, and while they were both respectful in some ways, they were more comfortable with getting into some of the closer positions. It ended with Taline throwing Jasper off of her.

Though just as she did, Jasper had grabbed her sword. It didn't form the energy blade it did when Taline drew it though. Taline realized what he had done as he skidded to a halt, grinning. She reacted like Jasper had insulted her; angry and frustrated.

Taline threw a pair of fireballs, which Jasper blocked with the sword. She then rushed him. He swung her sword to attack, which she blocked, and then grabbed his sword. She pulled it out, and retreated. So now they were using each other's sword—Crystal wondered if this was a thing in the south.

They dueled for a while, at which point Crystal couldn't handle it anymore. There was something wrong about this fight, and she didn't like it. She went over to Mrs. Sapphire to stop the match.

"Sapphire, call the match," Crystal demanded.

Mrs. Sapphire looked at Crystal, surprised. "Crystal, just let them do this. They have a lot of issues to work out, and that's the only reason I'd allow such a lopsided match."  
Crystal cocked an eyebrow. "Lopsided?"

Sapphire nodded. "Taline's got a really good defense, but she can't use it here. Jasper's semblance makes the best defense I've seen in any tournament. But at the same time, if Taline can get her sword, I don't think any student can stand against her, except maybe Jasper. There's a chance Jasper can beat her, but I wouldn't bet on it."

Crystal glanced at the match, and looked back at Sapphire. "What sort of issues do you think this will resolve?"

Sapphire cocked an eyebrow. "I'll just chock that up to you being an only child."

It took Crystal a second to realize what she meant by that. Jasper and Taline were… brother and sister? She felt her eyes grow wide, and she stared at Mrs. Sapphire. "They're siblings?"

Sapphire seemed surprised. "You didn't know?" Crystal shook her head. "Well then, I suppose that sheds new light on this fight, doesn't it?"

Crystal was about to reply when a sound from the match distracted her. Taline yelped as Jasper hit her in the hand with his borrowed sword. It seemed that a lapse in commitment had caused her aura to flicker a little. It had lowered her aura for a split second so that Jasper could hit her. She didn't bleed, which was strange since she'd been hit with a sword. She dropped the sword she'd taken from Jasper, and he dived in to scoop it up.

His sword, which was originally a silvery sword, began to glow red and practically drip with destructive energy. The power came from a red Dust crystal in the cross-guard. Now he was wielding both swords.

Taline grimaced and raised her fists as they began to burn with blue fire. She said something under her breath that looked like "Not again."

Jasper charged swinging both swords together like a novice. Duel wielding swords took weeks if not months for most people to master, and while it had taken Crystal a matter of days to get it right, she tried not to compare herself to people who'd had a relatively normal childhood. It was still effective though, and had Taline on the run for a bit.

Then Taline caught Jasper's wrist and squeezed. It was his right; the one that wielded Taline's sword. Jasper brought his own sword to bear, which Taline blocked. She then grabbed onto the blade of her weapon, and shoved Jasper away with a fiery kick. He had let go of the sword as he was knocked back, and so Taline now had her sword back.

As Taline gripped the handle of the sword, the energy blade began to form. Both hers and Jasper's swords seemed only to reply to their commands—a trait that'd she'd seen only with weapons such as the Crystal Blades or similar weapons. Of course, their swords couldn't be magical like the Crystal Blades were, or could they? She'd have to ask soon enough.

There was a moment in the arena when Taline and Jasper just stared at each other, nearly motionless. Both of their auras had been damaged during the fight, though Jasper's less so. It wouldn't take long for Taline to defeat her brother, and they both knew that. Jasper didn't surrender like Crystal would in the situation; he just stood there, ready to take whatever Taline would give.

It was somewhat admirable, and at the same time made her cringe.

Taline then broke the pause, swinging her sword in Jasper's direction. A wave of turquoise energy followed, hitting Jasper, and slamming him into the force-field. The initial contact must have stung him, since there was a crackle of electricity in the force-field when it happened, but after that it resumed its transparent state and left Jasper alone. Surprisingly, that didn't get his aura down to the red zone, though a few more attacks might.

Interestingly, his sword seemed to be burning a gash in the floor. That sword must have been a lot of power in the sword to do that, but perhaps not as powerful Taline's sword. It still answered the question of why he would wield a sword instead of something else.

But more surprisingly, Jasper got up. Instead of surrendering either to Taline or his defeat, he got up and raised his sword. So this was why he was named Ironwill.

Taline sent wave after wave of energy at him. During that, he kept try to close enough to her to attack. While ultimately futile, it gave Crystal something of a respect for his persistence—even if it was misguided. Ultimately, his aura reached the red zone—slower than Crystal had expected it to—and the match was called in favor of Taline.

That wasn't enough for Taline though. As the force-field lowered, Taline spoke to Jasper. "Don't you see now that this idea is pointless?" Taline said loud enough that Crystal didn't have to read her lips to understand her. "There are so many people more powerful than you, and they probably can't even beat a lot of Grimm. Don't you see that if I can beat you—a student—then you'll lose to the Grimm?"

Jasper shook his head. "I don't care about the danger. I'm going to fight the Grimm because that's what I want to do."

Taline scoffed. "I'm you're older sister, Jasper. Doesn't that count for something with you?"

"Yes it does," he said. "But you need to remember that I won't ever give up. That's why I'm named Ironwill, remember?"

Taline nodded and kept her head low. "Well then, I guess I can't talk you out of it."

"Not in the slightest."

"Then there's only one thing I can do." Taline brought her head back up to look him in the eye. "I'm going to help you get better however I can. Maybe this way you'll survive."  
Jasper walked up to her. "Maybe," he said with a smile. Taline smiled back shakily. They locked hands in a way where their elbows met, shook, and disengaged. They then walked out of the arena side by side as brother and sister.


	28. Chapter 28: Leaders

After Crystal completed her match against Athena Polias, Mrs. Sapphire told her to stay in the arena, and called the other three finalists of the tournament to stand with her. There was Taline Ironskin of course, Gaia Katsaros, and Sun Wukong. Crystal wondered what this was about. She would know soon enough.

Mrs. Sapphire put her hands behind her back, grinning. "You four are the final combatants, though you already know that," Sapphire said. "But what you don't know is that it doesn't matter who wins these next few fights. You've all passed, and so did the four you fought." That was comforting, though she would still try her best to win. "You've done your teams proud to get this far."

"Can we get on with this?" Wukong said impatiently. "I've got places to be."

Sapphire sighed. "Mr. Wukong, I will dismiss you when I want to, and you **will** wait for that time, even if it's tomorrow."

Wukong scoffed. Did he have any respect for anyone? If only she could teach him respect, but that seemed an unlikely possibility.

Sapphire continued. "I think I should tell you what the next two matches are going to be, students. These are without preference, and your skill sets should give you near equal opportunities for victory. Sun Wukong, you'll be going up against Crystal Taryn. This means that, Taline Ironskin and Gaia Katsaros, you'll be going up against each other. I hope you find these satisfactory, because I'm not changing it."

There was a general hum of agreement, except for Taline. "I look forward to fighting Katsaros and whoever wins between Wukong and Taryn," Taline said excitedly. "It will be a great test of my strength."

"I suppose," Sapphire said. "Now, all of you are dismissed." She turned around to the students watching. "And that goes for you too." Crystal walked out of the arena, through the bleachers, and out to the hall.

As she entered the hall, she found Sakura talking to Storm and Rayne. Crystal went to watch, since she found it interesting how Sakura interacted with others. "So you really are twins?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah," Storm said. "Why?"

"Then you can read each other's thoughts."

Storm suddenly looked angry as Rayne laughed. "We can't read each other's thoughts!" Storm corrected viciously. "Despite the stereotype, I have no clue what he thinks about outside the obvious."

Rayne, suddenly not laughing, turned to Storm. "What's obvious?"

Storm seemed uncomfortable. "Well, you probably think about home a lot, and about other people, events of the day. You know, what everyone probably thinks about here, with your own Rayne flavor."

Sakura interjected. "You know what, Rayne, you hold up an amount of fingers behind your back, and Storm, you have to guess."

"This is ridiculous," Storm announced. "Can't you just take our word for it that we're not telepathic?"

"Oh, fine," Sakura relented. "But one day I'll prove it."

"I doubt that," Storm replied as Sakura walked away. He glanced over at Crystal and asked, "Oh, hello."

"Hi, Storm," Crystal replied. "Hi, Rayne."

Rayne waved, and walked off. Storm shrugged and said, "Sometimes, Rayne is so confusing."

Crystal nodded in agreement as they started to walk in a certain direction. "As are all of the people we're closest to. My father can be so perplexing sometimes."

"If you're looking close enough at anything, you'll see less," Storm said as if it was a quote.

"Now who said that?"

Storm grinned. "Me, a few seconds ago."

Crystal was impressed. That sounded a proverb from the old days when the Taryns were kings. "Well, it's true. Jasper drives me crazy sometimes."

"Faye confuses me to no end," Storm noted. "If I could understand her, I would. Rayne's the same way sometimes. I understand him better than anybody else, but that understanding's been getting worse lately."

Crystal sighed. "You're not alone there. At first I thought my father would disapprove of my relationship with Jasper, but he's been very supportive. I suppose you can never really know someone."

"I guess not," Storm said. He glanced at her. "But you can still try."

Crystal smiled. "Of course."

They were walking past one of the larger balconies, and Crystal saw what had been a sight of some sadness for her and her fellow students all day. Construction workers setting up huge cannons like the ones they used to put on battleships. This was part of the rearmament for Mistral, as Haven was right next to a sea they knew to have aquatic Grimm such as Poseidons and Karkinoi. It was a good idea, but it was still a little jarring to see them there.

Her father was behind this. He called for rearmament, knowing that they'd want to rearm Haven. While he may not have intended harm by this, this was just the first step to shutting down the school. It was unlikely they would want to have a school and a military base in the same place, so they'd have to choose one or the other. While it was possible for them to coexist, it was unlikely.

She wondered where Haven could end up if they decided to move the school. There were places across the kingdom they could build another school, but the construction would take time out of studies, so they'd have to use something else. Perhaps one of the nobles' estates would do, but where would they find someone willing to give theirs up? She remembered seeing something about an old castle in the south that seemed like a good place, but she didn't know much about it. Finding a new place for Haven would be tough if it came to that.

"I wonder what kind of Dust they use in those cannons," Storm said contemplatively as they walked past the balcony. "Fire would be pretty nasty above water, but useless underneath. Lightning would be effective, but if it hit the water the nearby sea life would take a pounding—of course that's inevitable, but I think they'd want to prevent damage…" He glanced at Crystal—who didn't appreciate if speculation in the slightest—and said, "Sorry. I'm just curious."

After a pause, Crystal noted, "They're probably going to use shells since they won't dissipate upon impact with the water like Dust blasters will."

Storm nodded. "That would help against stuff like swordfish things—what were they called?"

"Duelists I think," Crystal said.

Storm frowned. "Not the most creative name, but I suppose I don't get to name them do I?"

Crystal nodded in agreement. "If you did, what would you name them?"

Storm shrugged. "No idea."

Suddenly, her father—Lord Dustin Taryn—rounded the corner, and came straight for her. They stopped when he got to them. "Ah, Crystal," he said. "I'm glad I found you. I wanted to make sure you got to see this next Council meeting."

Storm cocked an eyebrow. "How many meetings does the Council have in a week?"

Her father shook his head. "Usually there's one every two weeks, unless it's an emergency meeting." He eyed Storm. "So, is this that boy you were telling me about?" Crystal was shocked that her father thought that Storm was Jasper. "Odd how he doesn't have an accent."

"He's not my boyfriend!" Composing herself, she gestured to Storm. "This is Storm Sapphire, a trusted friend." She then gestured to her father. "Storm, this is my father, Lord Dustin Taryn."

Storm looked surprised and bowed. It wasn't a very deep bow, but she was surprised to see him bow to anyone. "Lord Taryn," Storm simply said.

"Well, whoever this is he has better manners than half the people I've met here," her father said. "Did you know that someone actually jumped over my head?" That sounded like Sakura. Fortunately, the way he said it made it seem like he was amused by it. At least he wasn't angry.

"He actually told us of the matter with Headmaster Forester," Crystal noted.

Her father looked surprised and nodded. "So how did you come across this information, Storm?" he asked.

For a moment, Storm looked hesitant and panicky. Fortunately, he answered quickly enough. "Sir, that's not something I should talk about. In fact, you shouldn't talk about it either—they're everywhere."

Dad put his hands on his hips. "A bit paranoid, isn't he?" he said to Crystal.

"It's not paranoia, sir. It's practicality. In fact, you've made a few impractical mistakes already, that need to be corrected," Storm said like he was keeping back anger. Then suddenly Crystal realized it wasn't anger but frustration; frustration like when a child makes an obvious mistake. It shocked Crystal that Storm, who was usually respectful to other people, talk to her father like this.

Her father frowned, and looked from Storm to Crystal and then back to Storm. "Let's talk, Storm." As he led Storm away, he gestured for Crystal to stay where she was. Her father led Storm to a balcony where they weren't installing a cannon yet.

While she couldn't hear them, and she didn't care try to read their lips, she knew what he was in for. Her father could be very brutal sometimes with his speeches, and had made her develop a fear of him. At the same time, she wanted to please him, as she did have her obligations as a Taryn. "The unfortunate thing about being nobility is that it's a family business," her mother once said. Though she wished he wasn't so angry sometimes.

That's when she started to wonder: how did Storm know of the Order? It was a question that her father asked, and she started to ask to. How did Storm, a student younger than she was, discover a massive conspiracy like that? Who told him?

It was a painful time before Storm and her father came back. Storm seemed a little shaken, but triumphant almost. Her father looked at her and said, "Come with me."  
As they started walking, Crystal asked, "So, what did you talk about?"

Dustin sighed and said, "You'll learn soon enough."

Crystal was scared by that answer. What did he mean by that?

* * *

 **So, do you hate me yet? I hope not.**


	29. Chapter 29: Mutual Trust

Faye was huddle with a blanket over her shoulders as she sat cross-legged on her bed in the dorm. She had gotten a minor cold from when she ran out into the rain. She knew it would not last long, as her aura would quickly heal her of the sickness, but until then she was still sick, and had been all day.

It was horrible to be sick again. She thought she had gotten over sickness when her aura was unlocked, and its healing abilities protecting her like a second immune system. "Aura can be protection from viruses, and heals you when something does get through," her aura teacher had said. Apparently it did not heal fast enough for her.

Just as Storm came in carrying a tray of food, and she was about to say hello, she sneezed. She sneezed so hard her ribs slammed into her stomach, hurting her. How could a sneeze do something like that? "Bless you," Storm said.

Faye smiled weakly. "Thank you," she said, a little nasally.

For a moment Storm seemed nervous then remembered the tray in his hands. He handed it to Faye, and she took it gratefully. There was little to do here, as she did not want any of her books to be covered with germs, and her Scroll offered little entertainment. Chewing on the food Storm brought was a highlight of her day in terms of alleviating boredom. Of course, there was plenty of it.

Whoever put this meal together knew the saying "feed a cold, starve a fever" and took it to heart. There were biscuits, chicken soup, crackers, a fruit salad, a cup of yogurt and a different cup with steaming hot tea in it. She set the tray on her knees, and took up her utensils. She was just glad that she did not have a fever.

As she was trying to determine what to eat first, Storm said, "So, you haven't taken the cold medicine." He was referring to the bottle of putrid tasting liquid that she had been given by a nurse when she reported sick that morning. As much as she did want to get better, she did not want to take a medicine that tasted that horrid. She looked up guiltily at Storm, who smiled. "I wouldn't want it either," he said, and sat down on his bed.

She smiled and dug into her dinner. It was good as far as cafeteria food was concerned. The soup was a little watery, and they probably used instant biscuits instead of making the dough themselves, but overall it was good. Once she was done, she set down her utensils, and placed the tray next to her, quite satisfied.

She looked to Storm and asked, "How goes the tournament?" She had not heard much at all from Azura and Rusti, who had not talked to her much at all that day, what was going on in the tournament. She was personally routing for Crystal or Athena, as she knew both of them somewhat. She was—not literally—dying to find out what was going on.

"Athena's been eliminated, but Crystal's still in it," Storm said. As he relayed the rest of the information on the tournament, it seemed like something else was on his mind. She wondered if it was about her or something else. She hoped something else, since she did not want to become a bother to him.

Once he was done, Faye asked, "Is there something wrong?"

Storm looked surprised for a moment, and then said, "Nothing you have to concern yourself with. Just some family stuff."

Faye looked questioningly at him. "What part of the family?"

Storm shrugged. "Just family in general. Like I said, nothing to be concerned with."

* * *

Crystal followed her father to the place where he sat in the Council room. It was a large room in the shape of a half circle, divided into two sections—the inner half-circle where the council sat, and the outer half-circle where anyone they allowed in to sit. The outer section had bleachers for the spectators to sit, while the inner section had desks and chairs intended for each specific council member. There were two chairs at her father's desk, and it seemed not to be the only one.

She looked at the spectators' section, and found that there were few there. It was probably due to an increase in security. While Crystal, as party to Lord Taryn, was not stopped for carrying the Crystal blades, no doubt they were some of the few weapons allowed in. Obviously this was due to recent White Fang attacks.

As the last of the council took their seat, one of the council members—Councilor Roth—read the roll call. All present and accounted for with the exception of Lord Radcliff who was currently on a diplomatic mission to Atlas.

Councilman Roth spoke first—as agreed upon mediator for this meeting and any emergency ones until the proper one in two weeks. Councilman Roth was an older man with graying red hair. While he didn't need glasses or a cane yet, he would in a few years. "Does anyone have any new business?"

Her father raised his hand. "I, Lord Taryn, do."

Roth nodded. "The council recognizes Lord Taryn. You may speak."

Before he could, a hand went up. "Objection!" Councilman Leblanc—a man who was heavily grayed despite him looking and sounding more youthful than her father—said. "Lord Taryn has been passing bill after bill through this room with little regard for anyone else's ideas. The Council must have more than one man proposing the bills, no shouldn't they?"

Leblanc was her father's enemy in the council. They'd been at each other throats for years, and always seemed to be on the opposite side of each issue. While her father was more interested in protecting Mistral and keeping it true to the original vision of the kingdom that the founders had, Leblanc was more liberal. Crystal had a bit of both, though her opinions might change with time.

Roth shook his head. "Overruled. He's just got a lot of them." Leblanc, frustrated, though not very noticeably, crossed his arms in silence.

"Thank you," her father said. He stood, and said, "My fellow Councilmen, may I bring up the unfortunate case of Headmaster Forester?" There was a general consent, and he continued. "I believe that the investigation, and all related investigations, should be turned over to particular Huntsmen and Huntresses, who will report any and all information they find to one of our members, and they will make reports to the Council."

"And who did you have in mind for the arduous task of listening to the Huntsmen's reports?" Councilman Leblanc asked.

"Well, any member of the council I assume," he replied as he sat down. "But I think if no one else volunteers, then I will."

"Ah, so you want it for yourself," Leblanc said. "I think not. While your forefathers may have been kings, you will never be one."

Lady Blackburn—a younger member of the council with black hair who was loyal to the old vision of Mistral—elegantly raised her hand. "I, Lady Blackburn, volunteer, Councilman Roth," she said in the overly elegant fashion of the Blackburns. She remembered being annoyed by more than one Blackburn at various banquets, but if one would help them then her father would have to take it.

"No, you'll be on maternity leave soon enough," Roth said. He was right; she was in the late stages of her pregnancy, so soon enough she wouldn't be available for several weeks if not months. While a cousin of hers would be taking over, she wouldn't be able to fulfill any of her duties while she was away, including volunteer duties that her replacement wouldn't necessarily inherit. "Anyone else?"

When no one answered, Crystal wasn't surprised. Most high society members didn't want to associate with Huntsmen, as some considered them to be violent, unsophisticated mercenaries with no sense of propriety. Some were considered to be exceptions, like the Taryns, but none of the Councilmen seemed excited to work with them. Since no one else wanted to, Crystal's father said, "I volunteer."

Since the position was undisputed, there was no vote. "Good, very good," Councilman Roth said hurriedly.

Before Roth could move onto the next topic—as he was about to—Councilman Leblanc said, "Out of curiosity, Taryn, who are the 'particular' Huntsmen you spoke of earlier that would conduct the investigation?"

"A few I think that are trustworthy."

"Who exactly?"

Her father, sitting in his chair, grinned smugly. "Do you really need to know?" Crystal wondered who these Hunters he spoke of were, like Leblanc, but she would wait until after the meeting to ask. For now she'd have to suffer through two hours of these boring talks, if not more.

* * *

 **A criticism I've heard of the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy is that it can be too political at times. However, I didn't mind it, so here's hoping you didn't mind it here. I know it may have bored some, but at least this (in some ways) humanizes one of these mysterious councils we've heard rule the kingdoms. Or perhaps it only serves to show you what's going on, especially that Dustin Taryn has enemies and allies in the Mistral Council, that will either attempt to hinder his acts or help with them.**

 **Anyway, that's it. Have a good day.**


	30. Chapter 30: The Semi-Finals

Storm waited patiently at the ferry docks for his mom. She hadn't been at Haven during breakfast, which she usually was since the tournament began. He wondered what she'd been doing, though he guessed that she would tell him when she arrived.

The ferry was scheduled to stop at ten o'clock, and even if one gave them a little room, they were late. It was a quarter past, and there was no sign of them. While for a moment he thought that perhaps the White Fang had attacked again, it was more likely was that they just had mechanical difficulties. He hoped it was mechanical difficulties.  
Soon enough, the ferry came into view. As it did, he thought he saw scorch marks and gunshot holes. When it got closer, he realized he wasn't imagining it, and it looked like it had been through a fight. For a moment he was gripped with dread that his mom had been killed, but realized that if anyone survived, it would be her.

When it docked, his mother was one of the first off after a few people with minor wounds and someone shouting for doctors. She walked over to him with her longbow around her shoulder. She had a few less arrows in her quiver than she usually kept, and she looked like she had the same look he'd seen in so many people after a battle.

No words went between them. She knew that Storm could figure out what had happened. The ferry had been attacked, she'd fought them off while the White Fang inflicted casualties, and they made it back after she sent enough arrows into whatever watercraft they were using. All they did was hug.

Storm wasn't that concerned with potential embarrassment—as providing comfort to someone who'd been through something like that, especially a family member, had no shame in it. It also helped that everyone was distracted with helping the attack victims that they ignored the two of them. But besides that, he wanted to make sure she felt that someone was there for her, even if it was only her son.

She hugged him tightly, which he didn't like since he was pretty weak for a Huntsman—even a student—so it felt like she was squeezing the stuffing out of him. But she'd been through something big today, so he'd just have to bare it.

After a few minutes, she finally drew away. She collected herself a little, and said, "Storm, if it's not too much to ask, I'd like you to oversee today's matches."

Storm was surprised. He raised his eyebrows and asked, "What?"

"Storm, I've been through too much today to do this," she said tiredly. "Besides, all you have to do is raise the force field and make sure they stop when they're supposed to stop. It's not that hard."

Storm was hesitant to take on this responsibility, to say the least. Why should they listen to him, a first year student who led his team to defeat in the first round of the Vytal Tournament? They had no reason to follow him except that he was their temporary professor's son, and even that was shaky at best. Why would they listen to him?

His mother must have seen the uncertainty in his eyes or on his face, and said, "Storm, I asked you this because you're the most unprejudiced, most trustworthy person I know. I'm glad to have been part of the reason for that, and I want you to prove you are by doing this. Judge this matches and you'll prove that to them, if you haven't already."  
After a few seconds of consideration, he gave in. "Alright, Mom, I'll do it. But please, don't ask me this again."

She smiled and nodded. "It's a deal."

* * *

As Crystal stepped into the arena, she noticed Storm was in his mother's place. She had heard that Mrs. Sapphire was caught in an attack on the ferry, and seemed badly shaken up by the event. Obviously she had chosen Storm as someone she could trust—being of the same blood, so to speak—to do this in her place. She could tell though that he was nervous, perhaps about messing up.

She took a place in the arena as Sun Wukong did the same. She found it slightly disconcerting that he didn't close his shirt, instead choosing to display his rather impressive muscles. Though she could ignore that for now and just beat him up.

He pulled out his red and golden staff as she drew the Crystal Blades. She considered what weapon to use in this bout. Hook swords seemed like a good idea, to immobilize his staff, but then again, a staff wasn't much against a flanged mace. She decided to use the mace, but hold off on summoning it until the beginning of the match.

The force field was raised, and Storm began the match.

Crystal immediately shattered her cutlasses into her planned mace as Wukong charged her. It took almost too long to form the mace as Wukong was a fast opponent, and quickly closed the gap between them. She blocked his staff just in time before it could hit her. She then swung her mace at him, which he did block, but it sent him barreling across the arena.

He then summoned two clones of himself made of light to attack her. He broadcast his semblance—an unwise decision to say the least—while he probably had no idea what hers was. She had an advantage in this fight, but that didn't secure her victory.

She dispatched the clones with some difficulty while Wukong tried to use them to distract her. He tried to get into her blind spot to attack. Little did he know, with her True Sight, she had no blind spot. His attempted surprise attack from the rear failed miserably as she swung her mace in an arc to first destroy the last clone and to attack him.

As he was sent back across the room, she realized the victory was within her grasp. All she had to do was keep hitting him and this would be an easy victory.

Then, as he got up again, he spoke in a derisive tone. "Ha, you call that a hit?" She swung at him and he managed to dodge it by jumping over her with a trajectory that would land him behind her. She wound up a swing that would hit him as he landed. He landed and crouched before she could hit him with the mace. "My mom hits harder than you."

He then split his staff into two sets of nunchuks made of guns and began attacking her with them. She tried dodging as much as possible, but she still got hit. She decided that a mace was too slow, so she would have to reform it into something a little faster.

She managed to kick him in the solar plexus, making him stagger back. She took the opportunity to smash her mace and reform it into a gauntlet-sword. It had a long blade, and flanges on it to block gunshots. She also made a second flanged gauntlet for her left side. She hoped this wasn't a huge mistake as she lunged at Wukong.

He wrapped a one set of nunchuks around the blade, trying to lock it down, as he fired point blank with the other. She blocked the gunshot, and kicked him in the knee. His stance weakened, she withdrew, and swung her gauntlet-sword in a large arc to finish him off. He then dropped to the ground, dodging the attack, and tried kicking her legs out from under her, which she narrowly avoided by jumping. She swung again, but he rolled backwards into a handstand that ended with him standing on his feet again.

Breathing heavily from the exertion of the fight, she said, "I'll admit, you're fast." While the compliment may have seemed strange to someone like Wukong, she believed he'd earned some honor in this battle. After all, it wasn't just anyone who could give her this much trouble. Though she quickly added, "But you can't beat me."

Wukong laughed. "You couldn't beat eggs."

Crystal smiled slightly. He was trying to trash talk. Obviously he thought that a Taryn could lose control over something like emotion. If he ever managed to get her angry, she'd just use that anger to focus on ways to beat him. Of course, she could use this to her advantage. "And you can?" she asked in response.

As he was about to speak, she charged, and began a series of lightning fast attacks against him. He barely managed to block or dodge most of them, and even returned a few.  
Eventually he turned his nunchuks back into a staff and swung it at her right. She blocked, and the he followed it up with an attack on her left. He then kept alternating between right and left, keeping her on the defensive. She had to strike back at some point though, and she couldn't do that with a gauntlet-sword.

When his next two attacks struck, she allowed them to shatter her weapons, and then dodged the next attack. She then reformed her weapon into a poleaxe, hooked his staff with the axe blade, and tried to swing him over her head and smash him into to the arena floor. Instead, he oriented himself to land on his feet, and once he landed, their weapons still locked, he flung her at the arena force field. She hit the field, and dropped to the floor. Perhaps a poleaxe hadn't been the best decision.

Her aura was low, but so was his. One good attack would probably get his aura into the red zone. All she needed was a weapon to do it with. She quickly considered her options, and chose to turn her weapon into a flail with a chain about nine feet long. Wukong was noticeably displeased when she did that. "Oh, that's not fair," he said.

She smiled. "If it was fair, do you think I would use it?" She then closed, and swung it at him, which he barely managed to dodge.

As she swung again, he jumped into the air. In the air, he split his staff into the nunchuks again, and aimed them at Crystal. She didn't have time to react. While she started moving to dodge, he wasn't even as far as six feet from her. She couldn't dodge, and she couldn't get the flail over to him in time to strike. It was over.

In the moment before he pulled the triggers, she came to terms with her defeat. He'd just gotten lucky, that's all. The only reason she lost was due to unforeseen complications. She could only see the present, not the future, so victory was never certain. She could have won, but as it turned out, she didn't.

She was hit with the blasts of Dust, and her aura dropped into the red zone. She shattered the flail on the ground, and turned it into dual cutlasses that she put away. Finally, Storm called them match. "The winner, by a hair, is Sun Wukong."

There were a few cheers, though about as many as some matches got. Wukong played the crowd as Crystal slipped away quietly.

She hoped that her father would understand. He would, considering he too was defeated by a student once. Then again, she was the first of their line in recent memory to wield both Crystal Blades. Expectations for her were higher than they had been for her. She so hoped her father would understand.

As she was going up to a high bleacher to be alone, Jasper stopped her. He said, "Good match, Crystal. You had me at the edge of my seat."

"Yeah, he nearly fell into the next one," Rowan added jokingly. Crystal smiled. A bit of good humor was just what she needed after that.

Jasper looked back at him. "Ha ha," he said dryly. "Maybe you should have been a comedian."

Rowan shook his head. "Then who would watch you fools' backs?"

Jasper shrugged. "Someone with a better sense of humor?"

"Personally, I don't think I need someone to watch my back," Sakura, who was sitting next to them, added. "I think it'd just be creepy."

Crystal laughed as the two boys looked at Sakura strangely. "You're weird," Rowan said.

"Thank you very much," Sakura said proudly.

Crystal then decided on something. "Do you mind if I sit here?"

Jasper shrugged. "Sure."

As Crystal made her way past the three to sit on the other side of them, the next match began. It was Gaia versus Taline. As Crystal sat down, she wondered who would win this one.

The match sped by fast. Gaia had put up quite a fight, but even she couldn't stand up to Taline's sword and the waves of energy it made. Gaia lost the match, and Taline won.  
All this meant that Sun and Taline were slated to fight the final match.

When Taline and Gaia left the arena, Storm stepped up and said, "Alright everyone, tomorrow's the day of the final match that'll between Taline Ironskin and Sun Wukong. But until then, you're dismissed and have a good day."

As Crystal got up to leave, she began to speculate who would win. While she thought that probably Taline would win, she knew that she shouldn't underestimate Wukong. Really, she didn't know who would win, but she wanted to find out.

* * *

 **Only one today, unless I somehow write an entire chapter in a few hours, which I don't really want to do. But look forward to the next one as I wonder if I'm somehow going to get into the forties on these chapters.**


	31. Chapter 31: Questions

Faye felt restless. She had returned to her dorm after lunch, and while she did have a book to read, she did not feel like reading it. She wanted activity, exertion of some sort. She had done nothing while she was sick, so now that she was well, she wanted to do something active.

She decided to go through her unarmed combat forms. Many knew how to fight unarmed, and for Hunters it was especially important. She had learned these forms in her Asylum days, and since then she had had little use for them. But she did need something to do, so she decided that.

She began by assuming her stance. Arms ready to strike, legs wide for apart, body facing ninety degrees away from her supposed opponent. She let her energy flow through her like a river. Then she was ready.

She visualized an opponent, and struck. She and her imaginary opponent dueled. He was good, blocking most of her attacks, but not good enough to land a blow on her. Then duel ended with a knock on the door.

She stopped, and was suddenly aware that she'd been sweating. She asked through the door, "Who is it?"

The person at the door answered, "It's Jayana. Could I come in?"

She quickly considered it and said, "Yes, you can." It was only then that she realized she had worked up a slight sweat from practicing her forms. She hoped Mrs. Sapphire would not noticed.

Mrs. Sapphire opened the door, and stepped into the room. "So this is where Storm's been living for the past few months." She looked around, and said, "Smells better than I thought it would."

Faye considered the smell for a moment, and then said, "It smells like… sweaty socks… and pine needles." That effectively described Azura's unique smell.

"Well, it's better than I thought it would be," she noted. "So, do you know where Storm is?"

She considered that, and said, "I do not know."

Mrs. Sapphire sighed. "I wanted to see how he was doing, but if he's not here…" She was about to go when she turned back and asked, "You're Faye, right?"

She nodded. "That is my name. My middle name that is—I do not use my first name, Mrs. Sapphire."

"I know—I've seen your student file," she said. "And please, we're not in the classroom. Call me Jayana."

Faye nodded. "All right… Jayana." It was a strange sounding name, and felt just as strange coming out of her mouth.

"So, how do you know my son?" Jayana asked as she began inspecting the room.

"I am his partner on the team," Faye answered. "I watch his back and he watches mine." As Jayana opened a drawer on one of the dressers that lined that wall with the hallway door on it, Faye noted, "That is Rusti's, Ma'am. While I doubt Storm would appreciate you spying on him, Rusti would even less."

Jayana nodded and closed the drawer. "Rusti likes red it seems."

"Yes he does. I have only seen him not where it while in uniform and even his hair is red, so…"

Jayana nodded. "I was just born with blue hair, so I understand." She gave a final glance at the place and said, "You four are a rather neat lot. Neater than my team was. Good job."

"Thank you," Faye said politely. She did not seek this strange woman's approval, just to avoid any possible wrath—as was her policy for anyone—but she was being overbearing. It was not her place to judge their room any more than it was Faye's to judge hers. But because she wanted to avoid wrath, she asked, "Is there anything else you want?"

Jayana thought for a moment and said, "Well, there is one thing. He's been a bit evasive about this."

Faye, wanting to both protect Storm's privacy but be helpful enough to avoid any accusing tones, asked, "What is it?"

"Well, is he seeing anyone?"

Faye was surprised. Had she just not come up? It was more than a little demeaning to think Storm had not once brought up the fact that he was in a relationship with her. In any case, she felt like this was a question best left for Storm to answer.

"I am sorry, but you will have to ask him," she said. "He is, after all, your son. If he cannot tell you something, it might be because he did not want you to know it." Listening to herself, that seemed like a good enough explanation for her as well. While she had been forthcoming to her own mother, Storm might have been a little scared to admit it to his. She would still ask him at the next best opportunity.

Jayana sighed. "You're a loyal friend to him, and a good partner. It wouldn't surprise me if it turned out that you were his girlfriend." She glanced at the beds and added, "Though I'd be a little concerned with his… sleeping arrangements." She stepped out the door and said, "Good day."

"Good day, Mrs. Sapphire."

She stopped and said, "Please, it's Jayana." Faye nodded as the blue-haired woman closed the door.

Faye was not entirely sure she liked Storm's mother. She seemed more than a little overbearing, and nosy. She hated books where the mother controlled every second of their children's lives—it was usually the start of third-rate villain.

But this was real life, and Storm did not seem that bad. He just seemed a little… nervous when she was around. She wondered why that was.

Faye felt a little queasy, so she went to the bathroom. While it turned out to be nothing, she was distracting for a moment by her reflection in the mirror.

Her hair was growing longer. It had been some time since the start of the school year, and while she had gotten a haircut before she left for Haven, it had grown out considerably since then. She liked to keep her hair short, but she did not trust most barbers, as she had heard that some barbers would cut things that were not hair on a Faunus's head—accidentally or otherwise. Her friends would probably not have experience enough to cut it either. Really the only one she trusted to do this was her mother, but that option did not seem right.

Perhaps she could just let it grow. She had had long hair before, but cut it when she started going to Asylum. She would find it interesting to have long hair again—she just hoped it would not become a problem. She knew how to braid it, so it would not be too bad.

She wondered how her teammates would react to this. She wondered if they would even notice.

* * *

When Storm came back from talking to Crystal about the tournament, he found Faye in their dorm room practicing unarmed combat. He came in as she had just completed a kick to an imaginary enemy. She quickly lowered her leg and tried acting as if she hadn't been doing anything. She seemed embarrassed, though Storm didn't think much of her practicing unarmed forms—it wasn't as if he hadn't done it himself.

"Storm, you are back," Faye said, just a little out of breath. He wondered for a moment how long she had been practicing. "What time is it?"

Storm shrugged. When one was on a loose schedule, one often lost track of time. He decided to be polite and ask, "So, how has your day been?"

She shrugged. "Okay, I suppose. Your mother came by not too long ago. Or maybe it was a while ago—I seem to have lost track of time."

Storm pointed behind her to the digital clock. "That's what clocks are for. That and annoying tired people." Faye smiled slightly—any smile seemed nice on her face. Realizing he should probably ask about it, he said, "So what did my mom want?"

Faye considered it. "Mostly to see you, I think." She hesitated and said, "Also, she asked if you were seeing anyone." Storm felt a pit drop in his stomach as he realized he had never told his mom about him and Faye. "I told her to ask you, but… why did you not tell her… about us?"

Storm shook his head, frustrated. He couldn't believe he hadn't said anything! "I don't know," was all he could say. "I should have told her. I could have told her. I just never…" He looked at Faye. She seemed accepting of this, but a little scared his outburst. "I'm sorry. I just… I never realized I'd never told her."

"I believe you," Faye said. "But can I just ask something?"

Storm was curious as to what she was going to ask. "Sure I guess."

"Does the dance count as a date?" He scanned her face and she was serious.

He considered it, and said, "Yes, I guess it does."

"Then that means one more date and… it would be three dates."

He realized what that meant—kissing. He also realized that he had nothing planned for that. He locked eyes with Faye, and she knew what he'd realize too. "So… this means two things," he said. "One is that we need a plan for this."

Faye nodded. "And the other?"

"Our parents need to know about this eventually."

"Mine already know, so…"

Storm sighed reluctantly. "So all that's left are my incredibly intimidating parents—wonderful."


	32. Chapter 32: Battle Lines For Tomorrow

After dinner, Storm, Faye, Azura, and Rusti were going back to their dorm room. They were currently on the topic of who they thought was going to win the final match of the tournament. Storm was currently in the camp that thought Taline would win, but he was keeping an open mind about this. He'd been wrong before, so it wouldn't be surprising to be wrong again. Of course, Rusti had some interesting ideas.

"I think Wukong's gonna win," Rusti said. "He's fast, and packs a mean punch. He even got to the singles round of the Vytal Tournament."

Storm shook his head. "Taline would have gotten there too had she actually entered into the tournament. Her team was late—that was it."

"Taline'll win," Azura said. When both Storm and Rusti looked at her, urging her to explain, she said, "Taline's sword is a powerful weapon. I doubt a monkey like Sun can take a few hits from that."

Storm frowned. "Why'd you call him a monkey?"

Azura shrugged. "Cause he acts like one—and the tail."

Storm shook his head in disapproval. "You can't just do that, Azura. It's kinda racist."

Azura was about to say something when Faye did instead. "Lorna had the nickname 'Foxy' in Asylum. It is not particularly uncommon for Faunus to come up with nicknames based off of what kind of Faunus they are—or at least, not in my experience."

Rusti had a contemplative look on his face for a few seconds and said, "What nickname did you have—Featherhead?"

Faye shook her head. "I did not have a nickname."

"Well, how about I call you Featherhead?"

"Please do not. I do not like that name. It makes me sound like I am a duster."

"Alright, alright," Rusti said. "But I still feel like you should have a nickname."

"Please, I do not want a nickname," Faye said in a pleading manner.

"Yeah," Storm said. "How about I call you Rust-Bucket, Rusti?"

Rusti made a face and shook his head. "Let's just lay off the nicknames, okay?"

"Fine with me," Storm said.

He glanced at a nearby wall and saw a strange glyph appear on it. It was of a circle along with an equal length cross going through it, wreathed with a snake. It was glowing, but didn't seem to really be there, as it didn't cast light on any other surface. He glanced at his teammates, and none of them seemed to see it. The glyph seemed to call him down a particular hallway off to the side. He decided to excuse himself from the group, saying "Excuse me, I've got to go" and went down the hall.

They let him go without much trouble. It was certainly fortunate since he didn't want to have to explain this. They'd think he was crazy if they knew what he saw.

He went down the hall to a door with the same glyph on it which disappeared. He opened the door and was immediately pulled in by a strong hand. Once he was in, he was thrown into a chair and he got a good look at who it was. It was Jet.

Jet was a member of the Order, and one Storm had come across before. He didn't exactly know what he could do, but he was certainly powerful. Jet waved a hand over Storm's face, a different glyph than before appearing on his black gloved palm. Suddenly, Storm's eyelids felt heavy, and he fell asleep.

* * *

Storm awoke in a dark room, sitting in a chair with a table and a strange figure in front of him. He—if it was a he—wore gray armor with a mask, and a dark hood and cloak. He was sitting across from him at the table with his hands in an arch. He didn't recognize this man, if it was a man—the armor made it hard to tell.

He was flanked by two people he vaguely recognized. There was Jet looking the same as always—black trench coat, pale skin, black hair and eyes, narrow face. The other was a woman wearing a black gi with purple trim, a black jumpsuit under that, a stark white scarf and gloves, and a full face Grimm mask. If he remembered correctly, she had black hair. He'd fought Grimm-Mask before, and she was so strong she dented his shield with her gloved hand. Were they meant to intimidate him, because Metal-Mask was enough for that?

He kept his eyes on Metal-Mask as he felt around his limbs. Neither his arms nor legs were restrained, which unnerved him. They obviously didn't feel like needed to restrain him, and right now he didn't feel like challenging that.

Metal-Mask spoke. The voice was distorted, like it was being altered by a computer program or something. The voice seemed neither male nor female. "So, you're awake. Good. The last thing I wanted was for you to be missed at school."

He skipped the usual "where am I" speech, since he probably wouldn't get any answer he wanted. Instead he said, "What do you want?"

Metal-Mask laughed. "As expected; straight to the point. I wanted to make an introduction to you. I am the Master. I run a simple organization, currently with a simple goal—eliminate all terrorist groups associated with the attack on Vale. A noble goal to be sure and I want everyone I can to join me—join us—in achieving it."

As much as their offer would entice most people, Storm knew what the Order was about. They wanted to take over the world. The only reason they wanted to save the world was to conquer afterwards—it was easier that way. Though it was good to know they were fighting same threat.

He would decline though. "Call me prejudice, but I don't like organizations that kidnap me," he said. "I think I'll say no if you don't mind."

Metal-Mask, or the Master as he called himself, nodded knowingly. "I understand. And don't worry about who to tell—you won't remember this at all."

* * *

Storm woke up in a study room. From the room's design, he guessed it was Haven, but he didn't know Haven had study rooms. In fact, he didn't remember how he got there.

He quickly came up with the most probably scenario for what happened. He guessed he knew something that someone didn't want him to, but knew that if he disappeared, people would notice. He wondered what awful secret that had to be, but he decided not to wonder about it.

He took stock of his surroundings. Four foldup chairs around a foldup table, a few sparsely populated bookshelves, a light built into the ceiling, a couple of windows to the side, and of course a door. If it was used for anything but studying, he didn't particularly want to know about it.

He was about to get up when the door opened. Oddly enough, it took a moment to realize the blue coat, blue haired, woman with a bow around her one broad shoulder was his mother. She smiled. "I thought I'd find you here," she said.

He stared at her questioningly. "How?"

"You know my way," she said as she sat across from him. "I'm a mother; if I didn't know, I wouldn't be a good one now would I?" He would definitely argue against that, except that he didn't want to. "So, I hear that not only did you tell someone about the Order, but someone in a high place, and later on even admitted this and convinced Dustin Taryn to turn over any further actions to us."

Storm hung his head. "I'm sorry, Mom."

She put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry; I forgive you. I would have done the same thing in your place." Storm met his mother's eyes. She had understanding in them, not any anger. "But I've got a lot of letter writing to do now," she said getting up. "Norbert is needed from Vale, and I'll have to find Locaster. With the CCT down, we're back to using courier ships and aircraft."

"Last I checked, Locaster was in a hospital in Vale," Storm said.

"She's probably somewhere in Vacuo by now, but thanks anyway," she said.

As she went over to the door, Storm realized he had something to tell her. "Mom, I have something to tell you."

She stopped. She must have guessed by his tone of voice that it was of some importance—to him at least. "What is it?"

"Faye and I are, um…"

She shifted her weight to one leg, and had a tired look. "Are you dating?" He nodded and she smiled. "That's great Storm. I'm happy for you." She glanced at the door and then back at him. "I'll talk to you more about this when I have more time, but I'm glad we talked."

"Yeah," Storm said, nodding.

"Goodbye, Storm."

"See ya later, Mom." And she went out the door. Then he realized he should go too.

He still wondered why he was left in a study room.


	33. Chapter 33: The Battle Begins

Storm watched Taline and Wukong enter the arena, battle ready. Both seemed to take it much more seriously than their previous matches. While Wukong simply had a more serious air to him than before, Taline had visibly prepared for this by putting her long blue-green hair—which was usually about her shoulders and back—into a pony-tail. While trivial to some, Storm took it as a sign that she wasn't going to fool around. Storm shifted in his seat nervously.

This match was later than the ones before it, as it was about night. The construction workers had finished installing some of the cannons, but they'd also damaged the school generator. It had taken them hours to repair it, and even then they installed another generator, just in case. By the time they had power back in the sparring room, the sun had started to set.

The two of them took up fighting stances, and Storm's mother raised the force field. She'd felt better today than yesterday, so she resumed her duties. Storm was just glad not to have to do that anymore.

The match began with Taline throwing a few fireballs at Wukong, who blocked them while twirling his staff. Wukong then went up to her, splitting his staff into nunchuks, and started a full on assault. Every time Taline blocked with her forearm, she got hit anyway. Soon enough, Taline adapted her tactics, grabbing Wukong's left forearm mid-attack, and started summoning fire in her right hand. Wukong then tried to free himself with his right, but that only resulted in Taline repeating the tactic. Storm knew that Wukong would probably free himself, though he wondered how.

He got his answer as Wukong kicked Taline in the gut. It didn't seem to hurt her too much, but it did anger her. She threw Wukong against the force field so hard, sparks flew from it.

Taline then drew her sword, and Wukong readied his staff. His quick recovery was surprising—he was tougher than he looked. As Taline swung her sword, a low and steadily loudening siren sounded. The energy wave from her sword hit the force field, which seemed an intentional after the siren.

Suddenly the match stopped. No attacks, no banter, nothing. They just stared at the door to the sparring room.

It wasn't until now that Storm realized what the siren meant. He'd only heard it outside of movies once, and that was in Vale. A Grimm attack was here.

* * *

Crystal had gone out to meet the night ferry with Jasper and his team to meet Peri. She was coming back, which Crystal thought was awfully quick for going to Atlas, going through major surgery, recovering from that, and coming back. She must have known of someone Crystal didn't who was a prosthetic engineer. That's when Crystal heard the siren.

She looked out into the sea, and saw what the siren was indicating. She saw Duelists swimming along the surface, the head fins of Poseidons poking above the surface, and—using her True Sight—Karkinoi crawling along the sea floor. All of it was telling of a Grimm invasion by sea.

Crystal drew her blades, as did Jasper. Rowan was calling in his weapon when Crystal looked to Sakura. As far as she could tell, Sakura, while in her combat gear, didn't have a weapon on her. "Aren't you going to call yours in too?" she asked.

Sakura grinned and said, "I've already got it." She took a glove from her pocket, and put it on her right hand.

"Your weapon is a glove?" Crystal questioned.

Jasper laughed and said, "No. You'll see what it is."

As the Grimm drew closer, Crystal began to center herself. Fear made one a target and anger led to recklessness. In order to win this battle, she needed to empty herself of all emotion, leaving only a calm mind and a sound body. All thoughts of the past and future evaporated, leaving only the present. She was ready.

A ten foot tall, crablike Karkinos climbed onto the ferry dock. Crystal ran up to it, wielding her cutlasses with deadly precision. It became clear to her that cutlasses weren't working, so she shattered them and formed it into a spear. She thrust the spear through the Karkinos's armor, causing it to screech horribly. Jasper interjected, slicing through the armor with his glowing sword. They made short work of the thing, and moved on to the next one.

Crystal, with her True Sight, noticed how Sakura was doing. She moved out of the way of Karkinoi's attacks easily, and even managed to hit them back. She would take a small bomb—about the size of a large grape—out of her combat vest, rub her thumb and index finger on the fuse, lighting it, and toss it right where the Karkinos didn't want it. She seemed to be doing very well with not a single hit on her.

A locker landed, presumably Rowan's as he was the one who went for it. He took out a shield and a belt with Dust crystals on it. He put the belt around his waist and the shield around his right arm. He then took a red Dust crystal in his hand and crushed it. His aura lit on fire with the energy from the crystal, and he ran into battle.

The Karkinoi were no match for them for the most part. Their thick armor protected innards that did not take kindly to swords and spears. Rowan could hold his own and distract them, but there wasn't much he could do to kill them, which Sakura helped him with. Really Crystal was most impressed by the teamwork between Rowan and Sakura—he dove in to take a blow for her while she attacked. They'd be able to hold the docks until help arrived; Crystal had little doubt of that.

Teams arrived from the school to hold the docks. Team AWLH and SFRN were first, followed by Crystal's team—CCRE—and team SAFR. Storm was absent it seemed, so she would have to command both her and his teams.

She started giving them orders immediately. "Cirocco, go to the front. Ember, Rayne, Azura, take up support positions on the outside of the school. Faye, find the ferry and make sure it's safe."

Rusti spoke up as everyone set about their tasks. "What do I do?"

She smiled. "You've got a flamethrower; start throwing."

Rusti smiled back. "All you had to do was ask." He took his long handled hammer off his back, and shifted the handle ninety degrees into his flamethrower.

Suddenly, a huge Poseidon, looking like the sea serpents of legend, rose out of the water. It roared as two of its friends joined it. This is what the cannons were for.

* * *

Storm followed his mother to the top of the mountain Haven was built out of. There wasn't much there but rocks and dust. If he knew his mother, he knew what she'd do next.

Below, the huge cannons they'd installed fired on Poseidons, killing them instantly. There was one at least a hundred feet tall that the shells were only annoying. Its scales were too think for that, and as it tore a cannon from its place, Storm knew the target.

She took out her bow, and triggered its transformation. In lengthened, going from six feet to more like ten or twelve. More cord was unwound from the spools on the two ends. It wasn't a simple bow anymore; it was an anti-armor weapon!

She steadied it on the rock, and pulled two arrows from her quiver. They were bent in half on hinges until she straightened them out, locking them into place. A normal arrow would have been too small, and would not have been able to go the entire length of the bow, so she carried these foldout arrows in addition to normal ones.

She knocked one into place, putting the holding the other with the shaft of the bow, and turned to Storm. "Could you hold the cord, Sweetie?"

Storm obeyed, grabbing onto the cord with the arrow and pulled it out. He pulled it a few paces back and asked, "Is that good?"

"Walk a bit to the right." He did so. They were now aimed perfectly at the Poseidon. "Good, now let go."

Storm let go, and the arrowed went flying with a huge amount of force behind it. A huge sound followed it as it flew. It hit the Poseidon dead on, piercing its scales, and releasing acid that ate away at its armor. They immediately followed it up with the other arrow, and it exploded inside the serpent, taking a vital chunk out of it. The Poseidon went down, crashing upon the waves as its corpse disintegrated away to nothing.

"Now if only this wasn't our main way of bonding," he joked.

She shook her head. "I don't know where you got your sense of humor, Storm, but it wasn't from me."

Storm nodded regretfully. That wasn't a good joke apparently. "Let's just kill another one, okay?"

She nodded, thankfully, and took aim again. And the fight went on.


	34. Chapter 34: A Grimm Victory

Faye found the ferry, and made sure it got back. While Duelists tried to disable to ship, there were soldiers from the MDF who fought off the Grimm effectively. They docked at Haven where Crystal and the others waited. Faye jumped off the top of the ferry, and glided down with ease.

A Karkinos climbed out of the water behind her, so she pulled her wings off, turning them into swords, and sliced off its right pincers and eyestalks. It reeled back into the water, trying to grab her as it went down. She jumped back, assisted by the jets of her flight pack.

Behind her, soldiers directed the few passengers and crew off the ferry, and to the school. It was a good place to be in an emergency, at least in comparison to the docks. There were not many onboard to begin with, so they disembarked quickly.

Just when she thought everyone was off, two more came running out. One she thought she recognized from Haven, a girl almost as tall as her with almost shoulder-length light blond hair and turquoise eyes, dressed in chartreuse colored clothing and gunmetal gray armor favoring her left side, carrying a deadly looking weapon. Next to her was a similar looking woman a bit older, with short hair a shade darker and blue eyes instead of turquoise, and mechanic's garb. They could have been sisters.

Faye was distracted for a moment by the weapon. It looked like a large, heavy tonfa, with tiny spikes along the longer section of it starting a few inches from the handle. The one carrying it had a backpack on with a rocket poking out the side, which made Faye think it was ammo for the weapon. For a moment she wondered what kind of person made a monster of a weapon like that, but then she realized that the owner probably did.

Just as they got off, another Karkinos jumped out of the water, its pincers aimed at the possible sisters. The moment the armed one noticed the Karkinos, she threw her companion out of the way, and readied to block. The claws stopped instantly upon her tonfa, surprisingly enough, as the Karkinos landed.

The girl turned around and said, "Get out of here, Wini!" The girl's companion nodded, and ran for it. Fortunately she was smart enough not to watch, unlike some.

Then Faye realized that she was not doing anything but watching. But as the girl and the Karkinos dueled, Faye realized there wasn't much she could do. To interfere might cause the girl to lose concentration. Besides, she could probably hold her own against one Karkinos.

As another Karkinos climbed up the dock behind the girl, Faye attacked it. While she would not interfere with the girl's battle, the least she could do was watch her back. The Grimm was easily dispatched.

The girl hit the Karkinos in its main body so hard that the shell shattered and it flew across to another pier. She was either strong or it was her semblance—it did not particularly matter which it was right now.

As the girl panted, she turned around to attack Faye, but the look on her face as she stopped told her that she did not mean to. It was likely that she had mistaken Faye for a Grimm behind her, so she did not mean to harm her. She continued to pant as she said, "Name's Peri. Yours?"

"Faye."

"Good. Now let's get some killing done."

* * *

Storm helped his mother load another arrow into her bow when she said, "Hold." He looked questioningly at her, but the look she sent back told him not to ask yet. She pointed to the docks, and he followed that point to see the Grimm starting to retreat.

He couldn't believe it; they'd beaten off the Grimm! He was ready to jump for joy when a dropship arrived, and Lord Taryn climbed out.

He marched over to them and said over the roar of engines winding down, "I thought I'd find you here."

"What is it, Dustin?" Mom said.

"I thought you should know the attack was caused by a power failure at the city power plant." A blackout probably caused by the White Fang. It was a dirty trick, but so were a lot of things they did. "I'm going to Haven to see what the damage is. Do you want a lift?"

She nodded, and Storm followed the two of them onto the dropship.

* * *

Everyone was ecstatic. They'd driven the Grimm off, unlike in Vale. The Grimm had been stopped!

Crystal was glad too, but not as visibly as some. It was a great occasion, but then again, they'd driven the Grimm away at Vale as well, if only because of quick response. What if there was going to be another attack soon, one that they could not stop?

Nobody seemed to care though; they were too happy. In fact, it seemed to be infections. She could feel a smile creeping onto her face.

Sakura seemed especially happy. "We did it," she shouted as she jumped in the air. "We won." Without warning, she ran to each of her teammates, and gave them a tight hug. She even included a kiss on the cheek for Rowan.

When she got to Peri, who was holding her mechanical shoulder, her hug was unwelcome. "Get off of me Sakura," Peri said, somewhat in pain.

Sakura had a concerned look on her face that matched what Crystal was feeling. "Are you okay, Peri?" Sakura asked, her spirit dampened.

Peri smiled in a way that seemed to try and fail to be comforting. "I'm fine," Peri said. "I'm just going to go lie down." And she walked towards the school, grasping her arm.

Crystal was worried. She thought that Peri had gotten her arm fixed. Why did she come back if it still hurt?

Before she could contemplate too much, two arms wrapped around her torso from behind and squeezed. "Your turn, Crystal," Sakura said, cheerful again.

Crystal groaned and shrugged her off. She turned around and said, "Has anyone ever told you that you give really tight hugs?"

Sakura's smile grew larger. "I think everyone has."

Rowan shrugged. "You get used to it as much as you get used to Sakura." He paused and added, "Really, you can't get used to her."

Sakura laughed and rustled Rowan's ginger hair. "You're weird too," Sakura said laughingly.

Then, a dropship came down and hovered near the docks. Mrs. Sapphire, Storm, and her father climbed out of the dropship before it flew off again to land. Her father was here—that could only mean trouble.

He found something to stand on and did. "Students of Haven," he said. "Your valor is impressive. With little aid from the MDF, you have singlehandedly fought off a Grimm attack. You're all to be commended for this. But you must remain vigilant; in this way, you will become heroes of Mistral!"

That seemed to please most students, but not Crystal. The speech was dull to her, and seemed reminiscent of something she'd heard as a child. He was losing his edge for speechmaking; he'd have to get new material soon.

Storm was walking past to the school when Crystal stopped him. "Storm," she said, then realized there wasn't much to say to him.

"Yes, Crystal?" Storm said tiredly.

Then she came up with something. "Who won the match?"

Storm shrugged. "It had to be called due to Grimm invasion. And I doubt either of them would want to fight after this." That sounded right, considering the circumstances.


	35. Chapter 35: Strength in Numbers

It was morning, post breakfast, and Crystal was going to team JSPR's room. Her walk was quick, and she did not stop to talk to anyone. She worried about Peri and if her arm was okay.

There were a lot of other things that worried her too—like how it was a little over a week since they deposed Forester and they still didn't have a headmaster. Had it really been just a week since her father announced the staff was leaving? It felt like it had been longer, much longer, since this whole thing began, but as she looked back, she realized how it had gone from day to day with something notable happening every day since then. She was looking forward to a quieter time.

And what about Haven; were they going to move or stay? The battle had proven that Haven would be on the front lines of any attack, but at the same time proven that the students could easily defend it, with help from the cannons. But really, it was up to the Council whether they moved or stay. All Crystal could do about that was hope and try to influence the decision of her own Council member.

She came to JSPR's dorm room and knocked on the door. She was answered by Jasper. Inside she could see Peri, Sakura, Rowan, and a woman she didn't recognize sitting around looking very serious. Crystal asked, "Is this a bad time?

Jasper shook his head. "No, I think you should be in on this too. Come on in."

She stepped in and Peri spoke. "As I was saying, there's something I think I should tell you two. You see, my arm is, well…"

Rowan put a hand on Peri's mechanical shoulder. "You don't have to say anything. We know."

Peri looked confused. "You know? How?"

For a moment, Peri looked to Crystal accusingly. Fortunately, Sakura interjected. "Don't blame her. We knew long before her."

Peri looked back to them. "When?"

Rowan spoke first. "I knew after you faked getting your arm torn off."

Peri then looked to Sakura. "I knew after our first battle, when you patted me on the shoulder."

She looked confused. "That was with the left…"

Sakura smiled. "I have my ways, Peri." Crystal wasn't sure if Sakura was kidding or not. "Besides, your arm always felt hard when I hugged you." Peri nodded in understanding.  
Now that the matter of her arm was out of the way, Crystal was to address the elephant in the room. "And who are you?" she asked the woman sitting next to Peri. She looked almost enough like Peri to pass as a cousin or something.

"Oh, right, you weren't there," Peri said. "This is my sister, Wini."

"Wini?" Her named was "Wini"?

"Winifred," the woman corrected. "I just don't like it, so call me Wini." That made sense, somewhat.

"She's one of the people who worked on my arm," Peri noted. "Her and my dad." So that was how she got her prosthetic. Her father must have come from Atlas to live here, but while in Atlas, he learned to make mechanical limbs, or at least arms. Crystal thought Peri looked a little Atlesian. "She'll be staying to look after my arm for a bit and make sure I'm adjusting well enough."

Wini added, "And to make sure this isn't one of those times where you fake a speedy recovery just to get out of the house. You remember last time."

Peri shook her head. "This time's different, Wini. Besides, I'd give up my arm to get away from Mom. She's always fussing over me. Can't she see I'm fine for once?"

Crystal felt a little sad to hear someone talk about their mother that way. While she had been fine with Storm's mother being around, to think someone wanted to get away from their mother was… She would have given more than her arm just to see her own mother again.

She hid her feelings and said, "If you'll excuse me. I'm not feeling well."

Jasper looked concerned. "Are you alright?"

Crystal nodded. "I'll be okay. Just… I'm going." And she left as quickly as she came.

* * *

Storm and Faye were talking in their room, sitting on their beds, trying to plan their third date, when there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it," Storm said, getting up. "But remember, I'm not eating fish, cooked or uncooked." Faye nodded. When Storm opened the door, he saw Crystal, her eyes betraying sorrow that her face hid. "What's wrong?"

Crystal went in and sat down on Azura's bed, which was fortunately unoccupied. As Storm closed the door, Crystal explained. "I… I've been holding this back but… I miss my mother." She hung her head.

Storm and Faye exchanged glances. With nothing but made up signs, Storm communicated that Crystal's mother was dead, and had been for some time. Faye nodded and turned to Crystal. "I know how hard it is when there is someone you loved very much is gone. I lost someone to the White Fang."

"No," Crystal said, snapping up. There were tears there that weren't there before. "I don't want comfort. I don't want sympathy. I want to know how to get rid of this."

Storm sat down next to Faye. "There's no way to get rid of your own emotions, Crystal," Storm said. "Everyone knows that. No matter how hard people try to lose them, they always find a way back. You've got to face this, Crystal. You've got to…"

"I have, and it didn't work!" Crystal said. "I faced it when I was six and I still can't shake it. What do I do?"

Storm sighed. "There's no way to get rid of that part of you without losing who you are. You need to realize this."

Crystal glared at him. "What do you know? You've been given everything you wanted from your parents—plural. You've lived in comfort and had a choice about fighting. How can you compare yourself to me, who gave up comfort a long time ago when my father chose to make me a warrior?"

Anger boiled in him and in his voice. "You were forced by your father, Faye chose. Neither happened for me; I was forced by myself."

Crystal looked confused but angry at the challenge. "What does that mean?"

"The person I am is separate to the part of me that made me decided to become a Huntsman. I've made mistakes, and became stronger, more careful. You want to know why I'm doing this? You can't begin to understand what makes me do this when I barely understand it myself. It's so confusing that when I think I have the answer, it turns out wrong because there are a million reasons why and only one reason why not, and I've learned that I can face death."

Crystal sneered. "You're a fool."

"Then same goes for you too." As Crystal was about to say something, Storm added, "Only a fool doesn't realize who's there for her."

Crystal broke down and sobbed. "Why? Why do you have to be right?"

"I don't," Storm said. "I just guess and hope I'm right." He switched beds and sat beside Crystal. He put his arm around her shoulder. "We're here for you, and so will everyone."

"Thank you," Crystal said as she stopped sobbing. "But that doesn't change that my mother's dead."

"Nothing can change that. All you can do is try to make sure no one else has to go through what you did."

Crystal's eyes met his. "But she died of sickness."

Storm sighed. "Well, then you should have been a doctor I guess."

Crystal chuckled and hugged him. "Thank you, Storm. You've been a real friend." When she drew away, she turned to Faye. "Hang on to him, Faye. He's worth twice what a man like Rusti is."

"I'd argue against that, but whatever," Storm said.

* * *

 **When will it end? When will this story end? Actually, that was the last chapter. Stay tuned for the epilogue on Thursday.**


	36. Epilogue

**Sorry for not posting this yesterday, but whatever.**

* * *

"…The valiance of the Students of Haven should be an example to us all. We must stand united against the Grimm, the White Fang, and all who may threaten our home. We have won the first battle of Haven, and if we remain vigilant, we will win every battle to come! Bless Mistral!" His speech earlier today had ended that way. Dustin thought it was kind of sappy, but sometimes, people liked sappy.

He'd just come from a dreadful emergency meeting where the vote to move Haven Academy's location had been tied. Leblanc had stymied him again. The vote would only be decided when Lord Radcliff returned from Atlas.

He was exhausted from the day, and after dinner, he collapsed into bed. He was only awoken by a mechanical voice clearing its throat.

He sat up with a start when he saw, sitting in a chair overlooking his bed, was a person—male, female, he didn't know—in dark clothing and armor. He tried getting up further, but he found that his wrists were shackled to the bed. With no effective way of fighting unless he used his semblance, he decided diplomacy was in order. "Who are you?"

"I am the Master," the person said. "And don't worry; I do not intend to harm you."

That was a small relief, but he didn't trust this "Master". "What do you want?"

"Only to tell you not to interfere with my Order's function. We have the same goals, Taryn, so perhaps we can come to a mutual understanding. You do not interfere with me while I do not interfere with whatever power grab you want to mask as patriotism."

"I do not seek power," Dustin said. It was the truth, he didn't. While if power should be given to him, he wouldn't refuse it, he would not try to interfere with what made Mistral great in the first place and stick to what his post was entitled to.

"Oh, you could easily take over. You have the people on your side, as well as the military. Your ascent would be relatively easy. But know this." The "Master" stood up from his chair. "If you continue to fight the Order of the Broken Moon, you will learn the price. Your daughter might come to harm."

He sneered at her. "If you touch one hair on her head, I will end YOU and your entire order!" The "Master" walked over to his side and took off his helmet. Underneath was a horrifying sight—the face of his wife. "No…" he said as the Master laughed and slapped him in the face.

He sprang up to grab her when she was gone, and so were the shackles. It was then that he realized that the Master was a master of illusion. The Master, male or female, was too tall to be his wife, as well as too broad-shouldered. That person was not his wife, so he did not have to worry about that.

His main concern was whether or not to follow the Master's request. There was no real reason to harm someone who was aiding his cause, in a way. He didn't want to put Crystal in danger either. For now he would stave off on taking action against the Order until properly prepared.

* * *

Adam was inspecting the troops that had come back from the attack on the power station. They'd infiltrated it easily, though getting back without getting followed back or picked up by the MDF was harder. In fact, it looked like one or two of them was missing. It was unfortunate, but not unexpected.

He looked each of them over one by one, and then he got to the last one. Talon looked as menacing as ever in full black and green armor, his face covered by a full face helmet. His wings look alright, but Adam wondered about why he didn't remove your helmet. "Helmet," he commanded.

Then he said through the voice filter built into the helmet that made him sound slightly menacing, "It's stuck, sir. I can't get it off."

Adam nodded. "Work on it. Dismissed." They filed out of the dark room.

He hated hiding in caves. They could never get enough light, and rain was always trickling in from the outside, making the whole thing damp. But since coming to Mistral, he had to do what the other leaders told him too, and they told him hiding in the cave was safer than hiding out in the open.

In fact, the other leaders had been awfully controlling of him since he got here. He came here to meet with them a few weeks ago and now they had forced him to stay, had him launch attack after attack against Mistral, and expected him to report to them. The only upside was keeping Talon, originally from a cell from Mistral, now turning out to be one of his best men.

Talon was an awful mystery though. He never talked about his past, never talked about his future, and didn't even like to talk about the present. The fact that they got him to talk at all was remarkable. But he wasn't there to talk; he was there to fight their mutual oppressors, and that didn't always need talking.

After the event of the day, he was tired, and went to his quarters to get some shuteye. It was a dark dank cave attached to another dark dank cave, but this one was smaller and had a bunk in it. An upside to being a leader was getting his own room, though he did miss having someone to talk to before falling asleep. He didn't feel like talking though, so that was a plus. He took off his boots, jacket, and mask, put his sword and sheath next to his bed, and settled in.

It wasn't long before he was interrupted though. A mechanical sound like clearing one throat got him up. He sat up, ready to ask Talon why he wasn't working on getting his helmet off, when he saw someone who definitely wasn't one of his men. Dark clothes, dark armor, and no evident gender, he sat in a chair he didn't remember being in the room, menacingly.

"Good evening, Adam Taurus," the person said. "I hope I'm disturbing you."

This stranger had picked the wrong room to break into. Adam reached for his sword, but it, sheath and all, flew from its place and into the stranger's hand. The stranger drew it, and pointed it at his throat. "Don't bother calling for guards either," the stranger said. "They won't come."

Adam gulped. So today was the day. Too bad. "If you're going to kill me, do it quickly."

The stranger shook his head. "I'm not here to kill you, though next time, I will, because if you don't stop your attacks, I will return with _her_."

The stranger pointed away from his throat and to the side. There stood another menacing figure, with a black and purple gi, a black jumpsuit, white gloves, white scarf, black boots, a bulky shield on her arm, and a full face Grimm mask. He took issue with the mask. "You dare dishonor the White Fang by siding with them?" he said.

"She wears the mask to hide herself," the stranger said, "and to show them what has forever been the face of death. To you, it will be also if you don't stop your attacks."

"Ha," Adam said bravely. "If you kill me, I'll only be replaced."

"Then she'll kill you and your entire cell, if not the entirety of the White Fang, however long that will take."

He glared at the stranger. "You dare threaten the White Fang. You dare to think one woman can destroy it?"

The stranger said back, "You dare to think she can't?" He continued to glare at the stranger until it spoke again. "Carrot and stick then. If you halt you attacks, I guarantee that you will find who you're looking for. That your hunt will be quite fruitful."

Adam cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

The stranger sheathed the sword, putting it back where it had been, and reached for the helmet obscuring its face. "I will help you track down the one you love and hate the most." The stranger removed the helmet, and revealed the face behind it. Black hair tumbled out of it as it revealed Blake's face. Suddenly, the voice was voice as well. "Blake Belladonna."

He looked at her in disbelief. This couldn't be Blake—it couldn't! She was in Vale! She couldn't be here.

He reached for his sword only for Blake or whoever it was to bash him in the face with the helmet. He almost slipped unconscious for a moment, and then grabbed his sword, slashing it at where—as it turned out—the intruders _had_ been. They were gone, and he'd left a scorch mark on his wall for nothing.

Suddenly, a guard came in, rifle in hand. "Are you alright, sir?" he asked.

Adam nodded. "Yes, I'm fine." He would keep this meeting to himself, he thought. There was no reason to make it known that two intruders got past the defenses and threatened him. Though he thought he would do as the strangers asked, since it also aligned with what he had wanted to do for weeks. "Inform my lieutenants that I want to see them first thing in the morning to discuss halting our attacks."

The guard nodded obediently. "Yes, sir." Before leaving, he glanced at the wall. "That must have been some nightmare, sir."

After a moment, Adam replied, "Yes, a nightmare."

* * *

 **Thank you everyone who got here for bearing with me through this. I'll be taking a massive break from writing Haven, though I might write something you end up reading. But anyway, see you next time.**


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